The best UK cities for food and drink

Newcastle is the best city in the UK for restaurants, cafés and pubs, according to Which? members. 

It was the only one of more than 50 of the best and worst UK city breaks to score the full five stars for food and drink - but it's also excellently rated for value for money.

It's a reminder that, if you want to eat well, you should head north. Bristol was the only large city south of Manchester to get four stars for food and drink.

In our survey of almost 4,000 people, carried out last year, 12 cities and towns got four stars, while London only mustered three.

Read on to discover what's special about Newcastle – and see some of the other highest-rated destinations for foodies. 

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Best UK city for a foodie break overall: Newcastle

Newcastle is well known for its nightlife but also has great places to eat. Grainger Town, the historic commercial centre with its architecturally splendid Georgian buildings, is home to many excellent bars, pubs and restaurants. 

Foodies also head to Ouseburn – a few miles to the east – for hipster brunches and craft beer from Full Circle Brew Co and Brinkburn St Brewery, among others. There are plenty of characterful pubs too, such as the Free Trade Inn, which has fine views of the Tyne.

Meander to the Quayside for buzzing bars and high-end restaurants, including the Michelin-starred House of Tides. Or step back in time at Blackfriars, which serves beautifully cooked game in a 13th-century monastery and offers a good-value set lunch and early dinner menu (£28 for two courses).

Newcastle also scored four out of five for value for money in our UK cities survey, so a city break shouldn't be too pricey either.

Check with booking.com to easily compare and find accommodation deals in Newcastle. 

Big cities that scored highly for food and drink offerings

Liverpool

Liverpool is the best large city in the UK for a short break, according to our overall survey, with top scores for its renowned cultural sights and tourist attractions. Its food scene has also exploded in recent years. There are excellent independent restaurants amid the scrubbed-up red-brick warehouses and museums at the Royal Albert Dock. 

One local favourite, Maray, has a branch here, serving its hugely popular take on modern Middle Eastern food. There's another branch on Bold Street in Ropewalks, where you can also find the traditional and very good-value Maggie Mays café, famous for its version of the meat and vegetable stew Scouse.

Old warehouses and derelict buildings have been reborn as cool cafés, bars, music venues, galleries and independent shops in the Baltic Triangle. Order cocktails and street food at the Baltic Market in Cains Brewery Village. Duke Street Market food hall, housed in a handsome old building, is also a popular spot at weekends.

Check with booking.com to easily compare and find accommodation deals in Liverpool. 

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Edinburgh

In Scotland’s capital you’ll be able to savour a lot more than the traditional haggis, neeps and tatties – although that’s an option, too. Burn off a few calories as you hop from cosy cafés to classy cocktail bars in the city’s beautiful compact centre.

David Bann’s vegetarian restaurant in the Old Town is one of the best-value options, with a two-course lunch menu for £23, with Middle Eastern and Mediterranean influences.

Thistle Street in the New Town has a livelier scene and plenty of top picks, including snug Asian-influenced Noto, which is tucked away down a cobbled alley. Down the road, Scottish bistro Café St Honoré serves up locally sourced ingredients with style.

Don’t leave the city without visiting Edinburgh’s creative port district, Leith, with its fine dining, seafood bistros, quirky gastropubs and the city’s first wine café, Toast.

Check with booking.com to easily compare and find accommodation deals in Edinburgh. 

York

This historic city, with ancient walls and a medieval heart, has managed to squeeze any number of quaint cafés and upmarket restaurants into its narrow, cobbled streets. The Food Court at Shambles Market has also become a destination in its own right for international street food.

When we visited, we grabbed an incredible warm focaccia from Shambles Kitchen stuffed full of smoked beef shin, cheese, gherkins, Sriracha, mayonnaise and chipotle gunpowder for lunch on the go.

It’s well worth venturing beyond the walls, too. Gillygate is home to two local favourites: stylish bistro Café No 8 (which we highly recommend) and Love Cheese – a cheesemonger that dishes up toasties in its café, which we didn't get round to visiting. Overlooking the river, the Star Inn The City – which is accessed through a secret door in the city walls – specialises in game, terrines and parfaits.

Step back in time at traditional boozers such as The Blue Bell or The Phoenix Inn, or order coffee and a cocktail at the friendly Fossgate Social. At the Chocolate Story museum, you can learn about York’s sweet history as the home of famous chocolate brands, including Rowntree's and Terry's.

Check with booking.com to easily compare and find accommodation deals in York. 

Glasgow

There’s an age-old rivalry between Glasgow and Edinburgh, with both jockeying to be Scotland’s fine-dining capital. Both scored high marks for food and drink in our survey.

Cool and unpretentious, Glasgow has a vibrant but inexpensive food and drink scene. In the trendy West End, cobbled backstreet Ashton Lane is full of charming restaurants, such as the Ubiquitous Chip, which serves fine Scottish fare. 

Finnieston’s Argyle Street is lined with serious coffee shops, gourmet sandwich joints and swish restaurants.

There's plenty for vegetarians and vegans too. In the West End, Mama Lin is dishing out handmade Asian-inspired food such as mushroom Rendang, salt and chilli tofu and curry laksa ramen.

Check with booking.com to easily compare and find accommodation deals in Glasgow. 

Bristol

Bristol is the only large city flying the flag for southern England, and its neighbourhoods all have their own distinct flavours. St Mark's Road in Easton is known for its Middle Eastern and South Asian restaurants, St Pauls for Caribbean, while the centre has more independent bars and cafés than most other cities. 

Clifton, with its elegant Georgian townhouses and quirky cafés, is also worth visiting for a meal. The Clifton gastropub, which epitomises classic British cuisine, has the Michelin Bib Gourmand award, which is Michelin's award for value and quality, not to be confused with a Michelin star.

There's also one Michelin-starred restaurant – the Bulrush in Cotham – just north of the centre, where a seven-course lunch tasting menu is £48, not including drinks.

Check with booking.com to easily compare and find accommodation deals in Bristol.

Manchester

Manchester has seen an explosion of new restaurants, cafés and bars, with much higher growth than London in the past several years.

The Northern Quarter, in particular, remains unrecognisable from the rundown place it used to be. The street-art-adorned neighbourhood probably has more flat whites and craft beers per square mile than anywhere else in the UK – and more places have opened, even during the cost of living crisis.

Ancoats, a little further out, is even better for independent restaurants in the refurbished warehouses and red-brick mills. In this area there is Michelin-starred restaurant, the avant-garde Mana (ants and other ingredients foraged from the woods have featured previously on menus), but there's also comfort food such as Neapolitan pizza at Rudy's or Mediterranean-style small plates at the atmospheric, airy Counter House.

Check with booking.com to easily compare and find accommodation deals in Leeds.

Leeds

Google 'Foodie capital of the North' and it's Leeds that comes up first. It's not the only city to have used the title in its marketing, but it does have a strong case – especially if you like street food.

Kirkgate, the biggest indoor market in Europe, has dozens of stalls ranging from Tunisian (Sweet Saeeda) to American vegan burgers and hot dogs (Fat Annie's) or Yorkshire puddings at the Yorkshire Wrap Company.

Its high-end dining scene is plentiful, too. Chef Jono at V&V has Masterchef finalist Jono Hawthorne at the helm, serving up creative British dining focusing on seasonal produce.

There's also more classical cuisine, such as Flat Iron steaks (£16) at The Cut and Craft.

Check with booking.com to easily compare and find accommodation deals in Leeds.

The best small cities and towns for food and drink in the UK

Some smaller cities and towns also got an impressive four stars for food and drink in our survey. Bath, Chester, Shrewsbury and Harrogate are all highly rated, as is tiny St Ives in Cornwall. You can see the full results in our guide to the best UK city breaks.

Bath

Bath is known for its architecture and historical sites, such as the beautifully preserved Roman baths, but members think its food and drink scene is worth checking out, too. Despite the city’s compact walkable size, there's a lot to sample, from fine-dining restaurants such as Michelin-starred The Olive Tree – which serves ‘refined, creative combinations,’ according to the Michelin guide – to gastropubs, cosy tea rooms, gin distilleries and even a few vineyards on the outskirts of the city. 

Probably the most famous food from Bath is the Sally Lunn bun – a light, airy, brioche-style sweet treat. Pick one up at The Sally Lunn Historic Eating House and Museum, and top it with rich cinnamon butter or zesty lemon curd. It’s been a closely guarded recipe for hundreds of years after a Huguenot refugee from France supposedly settled in Bath and introduced it to a local baker. 

Heading to Bath and want a top-notch hotel? The Yard, an 18th-century coaching inn, was rated highly by our undercover hotel inspectors as one of the best hotel stays in the UK for under £200. No.15 by Guesthouse, a spa hotel,  also got an excellent rating.

Check with booking.com to easily compare and find accommodation deals in Bath 

Chester

More than 300 restaurants are packed into this mid-sized city. Choose from refined eateries with ever-changing seasonal menus, such as well-rated Covino and Chef’s Table, as well as tapas bars and French bistros. For something more relaxed, eat inside Chester Market’s buzzy food hall. You’ll find a variety of traders, including a Mexican taqueria, an ice cream and pudding parlour and a stall selling Bangladeshi specialities.

Despite the city’s thriving food scene, members also love the shopping and cultural sights, which they gave four out of five stars in our UK city breaks survey. The Rows is a popular place to go shopping in the cobbled centre. Here, stores are stacked on top of each other in quaint half-timbered, double-decker arcades, some of which are original 13th-century buildings, although most are Victorian-age replicas. 

Check with booking.com to easily compare and find accommodation deals in Chester

St Ives

Don’t just come to St Ives for the art, museums and seaside – come for the food. And while pasties and cream teas might come to mind when you think of Cornish towns (the pasty shops in St Ives are in double figures), there’s more to St Ives than these classics. Seafood, perhaps unsurprisingly, is a speciality. Porthminster Beach Cafe, which has far-reaching views across St Ives Bay, serves up European classics such as moules marinière and seafood linguine, but also gives an Asian twist to many of its dishes.

For drinks, you’re spoilt for choice. There are gin bars, old taverns full of smuggling-history memorabilia, a micropub selling craft ales and ciders, and cafés where you can enjoy a sunset view. Go out of season where possible. Unsurprisingly, given its popularity, members rated St Ives poorly for crowds and parking. Our survey of the best seaside towns also has many great places to eat.

Check with booking.com to easily compare and find accommodation deals in Leeds

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Our research In April 2024, we asked 3,967 Which? members to rate UK cities and towns they’d visited for leisure purposes and stayed in for at least one night in the past two years (since April 2022). We received reports of 7,187 experiences.