The time to nominate for the Good Food Guide 2016 Readers’ Restaurant of the Year award has arrived.

The competition, launched by Waitrose, offers an opportunity for the guide’s audience to nominate their favourite local, independent restaurants, pubs and cafés for this year’s award. The nomination period for the country-wide competition opened will run until Monday, May 11, 2015. Judges will choose from a refined panel of establishments from across ten regions to select this year’s winner.

The awards will focus on dining establishments where menus feature regional and local produce. The winner will be announced this July and will go on to feature in the 2016 edition of The Good Food Guide, released in September 2015.

Elizabeth Carter, Editor of the Waitrose Good Food Guide, said: “The Good Food Guide’s Readers’ Restaurant of the Year Award is always closely fought. Last year we received well over 30,000 nominations, showing just how important independent restaurants are to a local community.”

Elizabeth noted the vast array of good quality establishments in the UK. She said: “The UK has a wealth of consistent and likeable local restaurants which offer no pretensions or gimmicks, just first class food and knowledgeable, welcoming service.” Previous winners have reported an increase

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in bookings, takings and an uplift in staff morale as a result of the award.

The winners of last year’s award were Carters of Moseley, a restaurant in Birmingham that revolves its menu around fresh and healthy British produce. Holly Jackson, Maitre d’ and proprietor at Carters of Moseley, was extremely pleased with the restaurant’s success.

She said: “We were completely overwhelmed after winning the Readers’ Restaurant of the year Award 2015. We cannot thank our loyal customers enough for naming us as their favourite place to eat; we were so proud and grateful.”

Holly believes that the competition is a great opportunity for independent establishments.

She said: “I think this award shows the lengths that the Good Food Guide goes to, highlighting great places to dine wherever you are, that you may never have heard of. It celebrates good food from around the country.”

To be in with a chance of winning the Readers’ Restaurant of the Year 2016 award, establishments can encourage their diners to provide feedback online and by making the official award postcards available in their restaurant. For more information about the awards and to nominate, visit The Good Food’s website.

By Ashley Chalmers

>>> Read more about the Good Food Guide 2016

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