Food and restaurants: eight pioneering places to visit in the UK

Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe; the owners of Saorsa 1875 hotel and two of their vegan dishes. Composite: Guardian Design team/Jordan Andrew Carter

Saorsa 1875
Countless vegan restaurants have appeared over the past few years, but this 11-room boutique hotel in the Scottish Highlands became the first completely vegan hotel in the UK when it opened in 2019. It’s not just the food that’s vegan, but the toiletries, furnishings and cleaning products, too.
2 E Moulin Road, Pitlochry, PH16 5DW

Dickinson & Morris
There are many good pork pies to be eaten in and around Melton Mowbray, but the Dickinson family pioneered the hand-raised pie and you can still buy the real deal – and have a go at making your own – at the Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe in the town.
10 Nottingham Street, Melton Mowbray, LE13 1NW

The Wetherby Whaler
Harry Ramsden started his fish and chip empire from a small hut in Guiseley, West Yorkshire, before opening his first restaurant in the town in 1931. The Wetherby Whaler is now an institution, with five other restaurants dotted across Yorkshire. While the original building is now under new ownership, you’ll still be able to get your deep-fried delights – and a blue plaque outside pays tribute to Ramsden.
Otley Road, Guiseley, Leeds, LS20 8LZ

The Grand Cafe, Oxford
Several sources, including Samuel Pepys himself, cite this Oxford institution as England’s first coffee house, dating back to 1650. Over the years the space has shifted from coffee house to hotel and back again. It still attracts a roaring trade to this day, serving up everything from deluxe full English breakfasts to indulgent high tea menus in appropriately lavish surroundings.
84 High Street, Oxford, OX1 4BG

Michel Roux Jr at the Gavroche and a Bakewell tart. Composite: Issy Croker/Marc Barker/Le Gavroche/PR

The Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop
This shop in the charming Peak District town of Bakewell claims to have invented the Bakewell pudding – a predecessor of the eponymous tart. But there is something of a local battle in the town with another bakery, Bloomers, also laying claim. Our advice? Try them both.
The Square, Bakewell, DE45 1BT

Bath Farmers’ Market
Farmers’ markets are two-a-penny, but the first one in the UK started in Bath’s Green Park Station in 1997, and is still going strong every Saturday. Grab a coffee for the stroll around and snap up local cheeses, charcuterie, artisan bread, preserves and even some beautiful handcrafted soap for your troubles.
Green Park Road, Bath, BA1 1JB

Le Gavroche
Opened in 1967, Albert and Michel Roux Sr’s London restaurant made its name serving up the kind of haute cuisine that had previously only been available at the finest restaurants in Paris. Awarded three Michelin stars for the first time in 1982, it’s now headed up by Michel Roux Jr – and currently holds two of the prestigious stars.
43 Upper Brook Street, Mayfair, London, W1K 7QR

Grub Kitchen
Bug burger, anyone? Set on a farm in west Wales, Grub Kitchen is the UK’s first insect restaurant. Its aim is to turn eating bugs from “novelty to normalcy” by promoting insects as a sustainable, and tasty, food choice.
Lower Harglodd Farm, St Davids, SA62 6BX

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