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The Good Food Guide
The Good Food Guide is a guide to the best restaurants, pubs and cafés in Great Britain. The first edition was published in 1952 and covered the years 1951–1952. Initially published every two years, the Good Food Guide was then published annually from 1969 until 2021.
Over its existence as a hard-copy volume, the number of establishments included in the Good Food Guide steadily rose, from 484 entries in its first volume, to 750 in the 1961 volume, 1200 in the 1971 volume, and from 2010 until the end of its existence in print, around 1300 entries.
In October 2021, Adam Hyman purchased The Good Food Guide for an undisclosed sum from Waitrose & Partners. The Guide was relaunched in 2022 as a digital product. The Guide will no longer be published annually in print but will instead be published in an app that will be continuously updated with new Guide entries along with a The Good Food Guide Weekly digital newsletter, location guides and Club perks and offers.
According to the organisation, all reviews are based on the huge volume of feedback received from readers and this, together with anonymous expert inspections, ensures that every entry is assessed afresh. Every inspected meal is paid for, and Readers of the Guide are still actively encouraged to submit their reviews, via the Good Food Guide website, which are then considered for prospective inclusion in the Guide .
Some guidebooks prior to Postgate's were, like his, based on readers' recommendations, but in the early 1950s, the majority were made up of the opinions of experts, or taste arbiters. They decided for their readership which restaurants were good and which were not. Other guidebooks might have advertised themselves as "independent", but many included listings for restaurants that paid them.
Elizabeth Carter was appointed as editor of The Good Food Guide in November 2007. She has been an active restaurant inspector and contributor to the Guide since the 1990s, and has extensive experience in restaurant-related publishing and media. Previous roles have included editor of Les Routiers UK and Ireland Guide (2002–2004) and editor of the AA Restaurant Guide (1997–2000).
Chloë Hamilton works alongside Carter as co-editor.
The Good Food Guide was first compiled by Raymond Postgate in 1951–52. Prior to that work, Postgate had published in Leader Magazine (23 April 1949) an article entitled "Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Food", stating that his new-found society rose from his frustration with the "horrifying things" he had witnessed in restaurants and urging interested readers to send him restaurant recommendations. When Hulton, the Leader's publisher, abruptly closed the magazine down, Postgate worked with Lilliput to continue his project. In November 1950, a neophyte version of what would become the Good Food Guide was published. This list of fifteen recommended restaurants was prefaced by Postgate's article, "The Good Food Club: Rules for Eating Out", including Rule One: "Read the menu outside. If there is no menu outside, don't go in." Postgate's aims were simple, among them, "to raise the standard of cooking in Britain" and "to do ourselves all a bit of good by making our holidays, travels and evenings-out in due course more enjoyable". Following the success of The Good Food Club, readers' reports were compiled and the first Good Food Guide was published. It included 484 restaurants, hotels, and pubs. One of the original compilers was food writer Margaret Costa who would become the regular Sunday Times food columnist. Upon his retirement from the Good Food Guide in 1970, Postgate estimated that he had dealt with some 40,000 reader recommendations.
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The Good Food Guide
The Good Food Guide is a guide to the best restaurants, pubs and cafés in Great Britain. The first edition was published in 1952 and covered the years 1951–1952. Initially published every two years, the Good Food Guide was then published annually from 1969 until 2021.
Over its existence as a hard-copy volume, the number of establishments included in the Good Food Guide steadily rose, from 484 entries in its first volume, to 750 in the 1961 volume, 1200 in the 1971 volume, and from 2010 until the end of its existence in print, around 1300 entries.
In October 2021, Adam Hyman purchased The Good Food Guide for an undisclosed sum from Waitrose & Partners. The Guide was relaunched in 2022 as a digital product. The Guide will no longer be published annually in print but will instead be published in an app that will be continuously updated with new Guide entries along with a The Good Food Guide Weekly digital newsletter, location guides and Club perks and offers.
According to the organisation, all reviews are based on the huge volume of feedback received from readers and this, together with anonymous expert inspections, ensures that every entry is assessed afresh. Every inspected meal is paid for, and Readers of the Guide are still actively encouraged to submit their reviews, via the Good Food Guide website, which are then considered for prospective inclusion in the Guide .
Some guidebooks prior to Postgate's were, like his, based on readers' recommendations, but in the early 1950s, the majority were made up of the opinions of experts, or taste arbiters. They decided for their readership which restaurants were good and which were not. Other guidebooks might have advertised themselves as "independent", but many included listings for restaurants that paid them.
Elizabeth Carter was appointed as editor of The Good Food Guide in November 2007. She has been an active restaurant inspector and contributor to the Guide since the 1990s, and has extensive experience in restaurant-related publishing and media. Previous roles have included editor of Les Routiers UK and Ireland Guide (2002–2004) and editor of the AA Restaurant Guide (1997–2000).
Chloë Hamilton works alongside Carter as co-editor.
The Good Food Guide was first compiled by Raymond Postgate in 1951–52. Prior to that work, Postgate had published in Leader Magazine (23 April 1949) an article entitled "Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Food", stating that his new-found society rose from his frustration with the "horrifying things" he had witnessed in restaurants and urging interested readers to send him restaurant recommendations. When Hulton, the Leader's publisher, abruptly closed the magazine down, Postgate worked with Lilliput to continue his project. In November 1950, a neophyte version of what would become the Good Food Guide was published. This list of fifteen recommended restaurants was prefaced by Postgate's article, "The Good Food Club: Rules for Eating Out", including Rule One: "Read the menu outside. If there is no menu outside, don't go in." Postgate's aims were simple, among them, "to raise the standard of cooking in Britain" and "to do ourselves all a bit of good by making our holidays, travels and evenings-out in due course more enjoyable". Following the success of The Good Food Club, readers' reports were compiled and the first Good Food Guide was published. It included 484 restaurants, hotels, and pubs. One of the original compilers was food writer Margaret Costa who would become the regular Sunday Times food columnist. Upon his retirement from the Good Food Guide in 1970, Postgate estimated that he had dealt with some 40,000 reader recommendations.