Applications open for The Good Food Guide's Best Local Restaurant Awards

On Wednesday 12 April, nominations will open for The Good Food Guide’s Best Local Restaurant Awards 2023.

Across a period of six weeks, diners across Britain are encouraged to champion their favourite neighbourhood restaurants that offer simple, seasonal cooking and warm hospitality at an affordable price point.

Since 2009, the awards have been hugely successful in unearthing some of Britain’s now best-known restaurants including Carters of Moseley and Orwells.

After a four-year hiatus, the search is back on for the country’s best restaurant you might not have heard of.

The public have six weeks, from Wednesday 12th April at 12:00 until Wednesday 24th May at 23:59, to have their say.

Once nominations close, The Good Food Guide’s editors will reveal a shortlist of contenders across Scotland, North East England, North West England, Central & East of England, Wales, London & South East England, and South West England.

A restaurant audit and anonymous inspections of the frontrunners will follow, before regional winners and the overall Best Local Restaurant of 2023 is announced at the end of June.

In previous years, the competition has attracted up to 30,000 individual nominations and raised the profile of some of Britain’s best restaurateurs.

In 2015, Brad and Holly Carter’s neighbourhood spot in Birmingham was crowned overall winner and has gone from strength to strength; in 2022 it was included in The Good Food Guide’s Top 20 Most Exciting Restaurants, at number 18, and is currently rated ‘Exceptional’ in the Guide – an accolade held by fewer than 40 restaurants nationwide.

Establishments that fit the criteria for a ‘local restaurant’ can encourage their diners to vote for them via the online form.

The criteria

• Independently run; owned by the chef or a hands-on proprietor
• Offers regularly changing, seasonal menus at affordable prices
• Demonstrates strong relationships with local suppliers
• Rooted in the local community
• Offers at least two dinner services a week
• Gives customers a genuine, warm welcome Restaurants are welcome to print business cards, QR codes and share digital assets to encourage nominations through their own channels.

Commenting on this announce, the Guide's Editor Elizabeth Carter said: "The simple formula of a kitchen that cooks fresh to order is the very principle on which The Good Food Guide was founded."

She added: "We have always maintained that the best restaurants offer creative, memorable food based on quality, seasonal and local produce. In other words, no pretensions or gimmicks, just first-class food cooked from ingredients deeply rooted in the region. A commitment to their community and a strong relationship with local suppliers is what makes a restaurant truly local."