The Good Food Guide's 100 Best Local Restaurants in partnership with Square is back for 2025 and we need your help to find the very best local, independent restaurants across the country.
A Best Local Restaurant is likely to be a casual kind of place, with excellent cooking using local suppliers and a brilliantly warm welcome for whoever walks through the door. It's the kind of restaurant that draws you back time and again.
Give your favourite local restaurant the recognition it deserves and tell us about it here. 
About
The Good Food Guide’s 100 Best Local Restaurants 2025 in partnership with Square celebrates the very best of local, independent and accessibly-priced restaurants around Great Britain. Each year, tens of thousands of public nominations are whittled down to a list of the 100 best, from which regional winners (Central & East of England, London, North East England, North West England, Scotland, South East England, South West England and Wales) and one overall winner are selected.
The search is fuelled by you, our readers, and no stone goes unturned in following up on the most promising leads. The Guide’s network of inspectors, stationed across the country, set out to assess even the most hard-to-reach restaurants and embark on mini dining marathons, always visiting anonymously and paying their own bill.
The results are passed on to The Good Food Guide’s editors who make the final call on which restaurants deserve the prestigious title of a Best Local Restaurant.
About Square
Square powers the restaurants that make your neighbourhood feel like home. From local wine shops to multi-location restaurants, Square’s clever tech is built to support business of all sizes, so you can enjoy brilliant service along with all that incredible food. To see how Square supports your favourites click here.
100 BEST LOCAL RESTAURANTS 2024
Our Best Local Restaurant award began as a minor accolade in the 2010 edition of The Good Food Guide. Today it is a significant event in the hospitality calendar. In 2024 an unprecedented 60,000 nominations were gathered over six weeks in spring and the inspectors and editors selected Bavette in Horsforth, Leeds to take the title of overall winner.
The full list is a snapshot of extraordinary local creativity and talent, personal hospitality and genuine community spirit in the form of bistros, brasseries, pubs and cafés. We couldn’t put together such a list without the keen local knowledge, tip-offs and discoveries provided by everyone who uses The Good Food Guide as a resource. Ultimately, the Best Local Restaurant awards belong to all of you. Our grateful thanks to all who contributed.
View by region: Central & East of England | London | North East | North West | Scotland | South East | South West | Wales
Eligibility
A Best Local Restaurant will generally meet the following criteria:
- Independently run; owned by the chef or a hands-on proprietor
- Offer regularly changing, seasonal menus at affordable prices
- Demonstrate strong relationships with local suppliers
- Be rooted in the local community
- Offer at least two dinner services a week
- Give customers a genuine, warm welcome
Restaurants do not need to already be featured in The Good Food Guide to take part.
Judging
Once nominations close, a shortlist of restaurants from each region is drawn up based on public nominations.
The Good Food Guide’s editors then seek out the details from shortlisted restaurants including, but not limited to: menus, images, supplier information and chef bios.
Shortlisted finalists are then visited anonymously by a Good Food Guide inspector.
An overall winner and regional winners are selected by editors of The Good Food Guide in consultation with inspectors.
Past winners of The Good Food Guide's Best Local Restaurant awards
The Best Local Restaurant awards has been run by the Good Food Guide for many years. It was previously named Readers' Restaurant of the Year up until 2016 and Local Restaurant of the Year in 2017.
Read about some of the previous years incredible local restaurants below:
BRITAIN'S 100 BEST LOCAL RESTAURANTS 2023
BEST LOCAL RESTAURANT AWARDS 2019-2020
BEST LOCAL RESTAURANT AWARDS 2018
LOCAL RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR 2017
READERS' RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR 2016
READERS' RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR 2015
Why winning The Good Food Guide's Best Local Restaurant Awards matters
Read about how being part of The Good Food Guide's 100 Best Local Restaurants changed the lives of restaurants and restaurateurs alike:
Carters of Moseley | 2015 Winners
The Little Gloster | 2020 Winners
To get the latest news and updates about the awards, sign up for our free newsletter here.
Are you a restaurant interested in taking part in 2025? Find out how to get involved here.
Member of the press? Sign up to The Good Food Guide's press list for updates here.
More reading about Best Local Restaurants:
Six signs you're in a great local restaurant
Why go local? The Beauty of a Neighbourhood Restaurant
Carters of Moseley: The Best Local Restaurant Winner that Went Big
Chef Lloyd Morse on the Making of The Palmerston
Top Chefs Reveal Their Best Local Restaurants of 2023
Become a member & get the app!
Find out more about becoming a Good Food Guide Member or join now.
