Three Leeds restaurants named in Good Food Guide’s UK top 100 for 2026

The Good Food Guide, one of the UK’s leading restaurant guides, has announced its list of the 100 best local restaurants in the country for 2026.

Now in its 16th year, the Best Local Restaurant Awards celebrate the community-driven restaurants that serve local communities across the UK.

Announced at an awards ceremony at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London last night (Monday), the 2026 list features three Leeds entries.

La Locanda in Gisburn, Lancashire, was crowned the overall winner and the North West’s best restaurant, while Black Wheat Club in York, North Yorkshire, was named Yorkshire & the North East’s best restaurant.

Horsforth neighbourhood bistro Bavette was named the Good Food Guide’s 16th best restaurant overall, having held the top spot in 2024 and 2025.

Further down the list, The Empire Cafe, on Fish Street, was ranked 31st, while newly opened The Smithfield – a collaboration between Crooked Brewing and James Donovan at the former Reliance site on North Street – entered the list at number 80.

Speaking about this year’s list, the Good Food Guide’s head of reviews and listings, Chloë Hamilton, said creativity has “flourished in unusual and unlikely places” in the face of adversity.

“It has been hugely rewarding to see how these tiny operations are offering outstanding quality in a way that so clearly strikes a chord with the local crowd,” she added. “Arrive with an open mind and a good appetite and you’ll be brilliantly rewarded.”

Overall and regional winners:

• Overall & North West: La Locanda, Gisburn, Lancashire
• South West: Wangs, Bristol 
• Central & East of England: Wild Restaurant, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire
• South East: Cantina Caruso, Margate, Kent
• Yorkshire & the North East: Black Wheat Club, York, North Yorkshire
• Scotland: Ar Bord, Isle of Mull, Highlands & Islands
• Wales: The Black Bear Inn, Bettws Newydd, Monmouthshire
• London: Gina, Chingford, London

Full list of winners (ranked 1-100):

1. La Locanda, Gisburn, Lancashire
2. Cantina Caruso, Margate, Kent
3. Ar Bòrd, Isle of Mull, Highlands & Islands
4. Gina, Chingford, London
5. The Black Bear Inn, Bettws Newydd, Monmouthshire
6. Tiella Trattoria, Bethnal Green, London
7. Wangs, Bristol
8. Wild, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire
9. Almanac, Glossop, Derbyshire
10. Black Wheat Club, York, North Yorkshire
11. Lucky Lychee, Winchester, Hampshire
12. Counter Culture, Newquay, Cornwall
13. Eastfield, Dundee, Tayside
14. Les 2 Garçons, Crouch End, London
15. Redwood Wines, Dunkeld, Perthshire & Kinross
16. Bavette, Leeds, West Yorkshire
17. Fino, Cromer, Norfolk
18. The Lost Kitchen, Chettiscombe, Devon
19. Lupo, Prestwich, Greater Manchester
20. Ida, Queen's Park, London
21. Fish Shop, Ballater, Aberdeen
22. Edie's, St Austell, Cornwall
23. The Union Rye, Rye, East Sussex
24. Gloriosa, Glasgow, Strathclyde
25. Upstairs at Landrace, Bath, Somerset
26. Mambow, Clapton, London
27. Ogof, Cardiff
28. North Street Kitchen, Fowey, Cornwall
29. Long Friday, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne & Wear
30. Little Clove Kitchen, Liverpool, Merseyside
31. The Empire Cafe, Leeds, West Yorkshire
32. Tropea, Birmingham, West Midlands
33. Ardfern, Edinburgh, Lothians
34. Soulshine, Bridport, Dorset
35. Dongnae, Bristol
36. The Palmerston, Edinburgh, Lothians
37. Janda Diner, Peckham, London
38. Lark, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
39. Bauji, Worthing, West Sussex
40. Shwen Shwen, Sevenoaks, Kent
41. The Yan, Grasmere, Cumbria
42. The Shed, Swansea
43. Chater's, Saffron Walden, Essex
44. 101 Bridport, Bridport, Dorset
45. The Nettle, Settle, North Yorkshire
46. Seasonality, Maidenhead, Berkshire
47. Nick's at Port of Menteith, Port of Menteith, Stirling
48. Mori Mori, Margate, Kent
49. Home SW15, Putney, London
50. Pompette, Oxford, Oxfordshire
51. Logma, Hackney, London
52. Teal by Sally Abé, Hackney, London
53. The Suffolk, Aldeburgh, Suffolk
54. The Orange Bird, Sheffield, South Yorkshire
55. Ebi Sushi, Derby, Derbyshire
56. Thomas the Brasserie, Cardiff
57. Brusco, Brighton, East Sussex
58. The Spärrows, Manchester, Greater Manchester
59. The Small Canteen, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne & Wear
60. Fifteen Square Metres, Broadstairs, Kent
61. Franc, Canterbury, Kent
62. The Gordon Arms, Selkirk, Borders
63. Fern, Uppingham, Rutland
64. Bar Ingo, Broadstairs, Kent
65. Belzan, Liverpool, Merseyside
66. Little Brickhouse, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
67. Amari, Brighton, East Sussex
68. Barry Fish, Edinburgh, Lothians
69. Four Boys, Rock, Cornwall
70. Pip’s, Norwich, Norfolk
71. Eusebi Deli, Glasgow, Strathclyde
72. Leftfield, Edinburgh, Lothians
73. Piccalilli, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
74. Norman's Neighbourhood Kitchen, Kirkburton, West Yorkshire
75. Chin-Zano, Liverpool, Merseyside
76. Lubber Kitchen, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne & Wear
77. The Seahorse, Dartmouth, Devon
78. Soi 1268, Birmingham, West Midlands
79. Outlaw’s Bistro, Port Isaac, Cornwall
80. The Smithfield, Leeds, West Yorkshire
81. Calong, Stoke Newington, London
82. Bolete, Neston, Cheshire
83. Pulpo Negro, Alresford, Hampshire
84. Margaret's, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
85. Â Sé Anar, Blackpool, Lancashire
86. Other, Bristol
87. North, Sunderland, Tyne & Wear
88. Bristol Lido, Bristol
89. Namo, Brighton, East Sussex
90. Tonka, Hastings, East Sussex
91. Post, Newnham on Severn, Gloucestershire
92. A Tavola Gastronomia Siciliana, High Peak, Derbyshire
93. Auction House, Louth, Lincolnshire
94. The Rocket Store, Boscastle, Cornwall
95. Root Wells, Wells, Somerset
96. Y Polyn, Nantgaredig, Carmarthenshire
97. The Dory Bistro, Pittenweem, Fife
98. Tide & Thyme, Tighnabruaich, Argyll & Bute
99. Lupa, Highbury, London
100. The Dining Room, Abersoch, Gwynedd