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Blackpool & Fylde Restaurants - The essential UK restaurant guide for eating out in Blackpool & Fylde
Blackpool & Fylde Restaurants - The essential UK restaurant guide for eating out in Blackpool & Fylde
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Select an article from the list below
The Fylde Coast has no shortage of Italian restaurants. You could dine at a different Italian every night for a month and still have more than a few left to go at. So any new venue thinking of opening up in the area has to keep in mind that it’s ente...
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Ever since Mr McDonald first got himself into the burger business, restaurant chains have become a fixture of the dining scene. And it’s easy to be critical of a dining phenomenon that’s never going to be able to compete with the individuality and qu...
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If you’re a top chef with a culinary pedigree that takes in The Clifton Arms, Northcote Manor, Greens Bistro, London, the Chester Grosvenor, Bermuda, Australia, Thailand and Dubai, where do you go next? Answer: Blackpool. Neil Sedgwick has returned t...
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Whether it’s a great wine list, a fantastic view or a private dining room, sometimes you just need to know where to go to get it. So after five years covering the Blackpool & Fylde dining scene, we decided it was high time we put our collective heads...
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The Michelin Red Guide, published in January every year, is the undisputed daddy of the restaurant guidebooks. It’s been around longest, it’s put together through a rigorous series of inspector visits, it’s the guide that’s most respected by the rest...
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How do you define a bistro? The short answer – with difficulty. Originally a French term, it’s cemented itself into English usage as a way of describing a certain type of restaurant – generally one that’s fairly small, modestly priced and informal. F...
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There are two kinds of people who eat out – those that like to try out new places and those that rarely stray from tried and trusted favourites. This feature is unashamedly aimed at the former as we take a look at what’s happening on the Fylde dining...
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Since it opened its doors for business on Lytham’s fashionable Henry Street on Good Friday 2002, Chicory has firmly established itself as one of the Fylde’s classiest restaurants. It’s one of just five local eateries to be awarded an AA rosette and o...
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For the dedicated foodie, the Michelin guide is the last word when it comes to quality dining. We might not take the annual release of the new Michelin listings quite as seriously as the French – where it can quite literally be a life-and-death affai...
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Blackpool’s Waterloo Road is frankly not somewhere you would associate with a decent meal out. It’s where the M55 deposits its hordes of daytrippers and holidaymakers, who swing a left and happily head for the delights of Promenade and Pleasure Beach...
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Unlike the situation with, say, Korean restaurants or Michelin-starred dining rooms, the Fylde suffers no shortage of places to go for a party – be it birthday, christening or just a get-together with a group of friends. In the off-season in particul...
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Sports venues and good food don’t generally go together in the same sentence. Perhaps if you’re fortunate enough to be enjoying upmarket corporate hospitality at a test match or at the races you can expect a decent bite, but for most of us soggy pies...
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When it comes to keeping the whole family happy, Italian wins hands down. Whether it’s a fussy five-year-old you’re trying to accommodate or a pernickety pensioner, an Italian menu has something for everyone -- pizza, pasta, meat, fish, even risotto ...
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For a part of the world that's made it's name on the back of its miles and miles of coastline and golden sands, the Fylde has relatively few decent places to eat by the sea. Blackpool's Golden Mile is pretty much a culinary desert, and the legions of...
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As motorways go, the Fylde’s very own M55 is fairly low maintenance. It’s only 12 miles long and unless you’re unfortunate to hit it at just the wrong time on a Bank Holiday weekend, it’s generally a smooth ride. It’s certainly no competition for the...
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Rick Stein recommends it. Gordon Ramsay celebrated his 40th birthday there last year. But you can banish all thoughts of fancy Modern British cuisine and exalted Michelin star status. It’s a humble fish and chip shop, a fixture of Lytham high street ...
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Close your eyes and picture a typical Italian restaurant. Chances are you’ll be thinking what most other people are thinking – straw-covered Chianti bottles, over-sized pepper grinders, loud Italian waiters. Now do it for Indian (sitar music, garish ...
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Curry lovers – if you’re looking for the best naan bread this side of Rusholme, this Thornton Indian is the place to find it. A huge affair – like an oversized Dover Sole – it comes with a flavour you just won’t find in other local Indians (and belie...
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There may be more interest than ever before in eating out but the foodie ‘bible’ remains the esteemed Michelin Guide. Its anonymous inspectors tour establishments the length and breadth of the country all year in search of quality dining, publishing ...
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Manchester has undergone a real transformation in the last decade or so, accelerated by the IRA bomb which flattened part of the city and the Commonwealth Games giving the “dirty old town” international prestige. Before the boom it seemed inconceivab...
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When it comes to a night out, the Fylde has restaurants, pubs and clubs aplenty. But if you’re in search of an upmarket bar – the sort of place where you can expect to see and be seen along the lines of Manchester’s swanky Living Room -- the c...
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It’s the biggest restaurant development ever to hit the Fylde Coast. Big in size, big in ambition, big in expense. To steal a phrase, this is one grand design, and one with a price tag that reportedly stretched well into nine figures. Joya – literall...
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Ordinarily, the small rural communities of Warton and Freckleton wouldn’t merit much of a mention in a restaurant guide. Villages generally don’t offer much in the way of sustenance beyond pub food and a takeaway (if you’re lucky). And the South Fyld...
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Despite all the talk about chicken tikka massala and kebabs, fish and chips is still one of Britain’s favourite meals, almost as traditional as roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. It’s a great-value alternative to other fast foods and far, far healthie...
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Wrea Green is one of Lancashire’s prettiest villages and in The Villa -- on the outskirts of this picture postcard community -- it’s got a restaurant that’s well on the way to becoming a destination in its own right. You might call it a case of déjà ...
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There’s Italian. And there’s Italian-American. And although Blackpool is far from being New York – or Las Vegas (for now) – it does have a venue where you can get a taste of how they do things across the pond. To be honest, it’s not really a food thi...
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Natural selection is always at work in the restaurant game with venues opening and closing on a regular basis. Some places, though, seem to see a little more action than is healthy and if you are a frequent Poulton diner you could be forgiven for rai...
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Question: With so many Italian restaurants to choose from in the Fylde, why bother making the trek out past Broughton for your pizza or pasta fix? Answer: The Italian Orchard is not ...
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Kirkham is one of those places where you can find a little – but only a little – of most things on the food front. There’s an Italian, a couple of Indians, a Chinese, a Good Food Guide stalwart serving classic British food and some quality pub dining...
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Over the last 15 years, the name Paul Heathcote has become nothing short of synonymous with Lancashire dining. He first opened the doors to his Longridge Restaurant in July 1990 and it’s been nothing if not eventful since then. Michelin stars have be...
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If you’re looking for a curry in a hurry, you are unlikely to go hungry on the Fylde Coast. Like most everywhere else in Britain, the Indian restaurant has become -- along with the pub and the chip shop – an essential part of the local fabric. There ...
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Hats off to La Mezzaluna. In little more than a year, this seafront venue has overcome the twin obstacles of a competitive market (the Fylde’s not short on Italian restaurants) and a difficult location (seafront Cleveleys) to establish itself as one ...
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This month we’re going to let you do the talking -- “Superb! The food was wonderful -- we ate every morsel”. . . “I travel from Manchester regularly to eat at this restaurant”. . . “It has always been exceptional”. . . “Up to London standards”. . . “...
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As Forrest Gump might have said (but didn’t), “Romantic is as romantic does.” Which translated from Gump-speak means that romance is more about what you do and how you do it, rather than where. Buying your (prospective) partner the most expensive bot...
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Most restaurateurs start off with a box – or maybe a shop, if you want to be more precise. But they’ve basically got an oblong room to work with and so the possibilities, design-wise, are somewhat limited. They either hold their hands up in despair a...
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There are restaurants you visit week in, week out and restaurants you save -- and savour -- for that special occasion. The West Beach, at the Clifto...
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It’s the time of year when a certain type of restaurant really starts to come into its own. Preferably deep in the country and best reached by Range Rover, it’s got a roaring log fire (where you can leave your gundog), a surfeit of huntin’, shootin’ ...
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You wait hours for a bus and then two come along at once. As with public transport, so with the restaurant game. No more trips to Manchester or Lancaster for that most delicate and delightful of eastern cuisines. Now you’ve got two Japanese restauran...
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There is a lot of nonsense talked about tapas in this country -- so maybe it’s time we put the record straight. Tapas are small snacks that originated in Andalusia in southern Spain. Bartenders used to cover sherry glasses with a saucer (tapa means l...
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Sometimes, you just need to find a place that’s well off the beaten track. The sort of restaurant in which you’ll happily arrange to meet a prospective new employer secure in the knowledge that your current boss won’t be sat at the next table. The ki...
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Say the words ‘country pub’ and it conjures up a set of mental images that are so quintessentially English -- roaring log fires, cask ales, exposed beams, hearty food, beer gardens, horse brasses, taciturn locals – that the rest of the world thinks w...
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Try saying that after a few cheeky beverages. And though Lytham’s County Hotel is now an all-new carvery restaurant, traditionalists will be happy to hear that you can still grab a Boddingtons or two in the pleasantly refurbished bar area. The County...
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Lunchtimes have changed dramatically over the years. Those long, boozy affairs that stretched far into the afternoon are pretty much a thing of the past. The old expense account is not what it once was and, more often than not, a lunchtime meeting en...
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At the end of 2002, we wrote a feature on the Fylde’s ‘best’ restaurants. In it, we pointed out that even the so-called ‘experts’ don’t agree – the AA Restaurant Guide and the Good Food Guide list five local restaurants but only one restaurant appear...
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If you love seafood, there exists a place of pilgrimage where you can truly indulge yourself – Padstein (or as it used to be known, Padstow). Lying on the Camel estuary, this Cornish town remains the perfect little fishing port and despite the influ...
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The Wyre is far from being one of Britain’s prettiest rivers – but it has its moments. One of them occurs at a bend in the river in Garstang, where a colony of sand martins have set up home in one of the Wyre’s steep, sandy banks. They share the loca...
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True gastronomes always find a place for fish. Not the battered variety that comes wrapped up in newspaper but rather the ocean fresh catch of the day that practically flaps its way onto your plate. The cardinal rule is to get it from trawler to rest...
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Taking the plunge and opening your own restaurant is always a gamble; putting your name above the door just serves to up the stakes. But if anyone has the experience to pull this kind of thing off, it’s expatriate Scot Gerry Soutar. With a healthy 22...
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It’s that time of the year again. The time when two weeks without rain gets one of the wetter countries in the world suffering under drought warnings and hosepipe bans. When people overconfidently abandon the tanning centre for their back garden. And...
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It’s hard to say, objectively, which is the Fylde’s most popular restaurant. But take our (highly subjective) word for it that this stalwart of the Lytham dining scene is right up there. It celebrated its tenth anniversary in July last year and just ...
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On the face of it, Thai food and salsa dancing don’t have a great deal in common. They’ve reached these shores from very different corners of the globe and while one lets you shed pounds at a rapid rate, the other helps you pile them back on again. B...
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You live in the Fylde. You dine out at least a couple of times a month. You’ve got your favourite restaurants but you like to try new places. You wouldn’t bat an eyelid at driving to Lytham, St Annes, Poulton, Blackpool, Thornton-Cleveleys, even Gars...
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These days, ‘traditional’ is almost a dirty word in the restaurant game. Aspiring young chef-patrons would rather be dragged naked through the streets than have their ‘Modern European’ food tagged as ‘traditional’. But after enduring yet another over...
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In a country where chicken tikka massala is the national dish and the Indian restaurant a national institution, how do you figure out where to get a decent curry? The answer might lie with Pat Chapman. Or possibly King Eddie and his Curryonians.
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Purists will tell you it’s the food that counts. And this hoary old platitude becomes the justification for some of the drabbest, dreariest, dingiest restaurants you will ever have the misfortune to set foot in. Of course the food counts – but so too...
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Karaoke may not be everybody’s cup of tea. Or bowl of rice. But there’s no doubting that it injects the X factor into an evening out at your local Chinese. The locale in question is Cleveleys and the restaurant the Great Fortune House, which on the l...
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If you’ve never set foot inside the Grand Theatre, then you’re missing out on one of Blackpool’s real treasures. This beautiful Victorian theatre was almost pulled down in the early 1970s to make way for a department store. Thankfully it survived, wa...
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Imagine a world without lawyers. We do – because then we’d be able to publish
all of the restaurant reviews we receive from you. To be fair to our learned friends, the vast majority of reviews are very measured and go straight on the site. And a fe...
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How do you explain the rise and rise of the Thai restaurant? Just ten or fifteen years ago, Thai food was something truly exotic – the kind of thing you might try on holiday in the Far East or perhaps on a trip to London. Nowadays, while you won’t ex...
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There should be no secret about what makes a top restaurant. Good food, attentive service, a pleasing ambience and value for money. Simple. But put together a jury of restaurant-goers and we can give you a cast-iron guarantee that there would be no u...
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Fylde Coast diners may have to wait a while before they are introduced to the delights of Mongolian barbeque or Korean bulgogi (try Manchester). And to sink your teeth into some authentic Farsh Po Tatarsky (steak tartar with black Russian caviar), yo...
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With close to 40 establishments serving up Italian food in the Fylde, local lovers of pasta, pesto and pizza are never going to go hungry. Whether your gig is fine dining, fast food, modern bistros, traditional trattorias, supertuscan wines or just a...
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Some people will tell you that St. Annes just isn’t what it used to be. That it simply can’t compete any more with the draw of leafy Lytham or Poulton’s happening after-hours scene. And no doubt there’s a measure of truth in what they say, despite th...
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Since he took over the culinary reins at the De Vere Herons’ Reach last year, Executive Chef John Walker has been working a quiet revolution. The four-star Blackpool hotel – best-known for its outstanding leisure facilities – is now in serious danger...
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We might not have anything to compare with the view out over Rome from the Hassler Hotel’s rooftop restaurant. But there are places to dine out in the Fylde that can provide an inspirational backdrop for that special occasion, whether you’re out to i...
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‘Authentic’ is a much-abused word in the culinary lexicon. Just about any cuisine type you care to mention has been modified to suit the English palate and Chinese is no exception. In fact, it’s been Anglicized more than most and dishes like chop sue...
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There’s an atmosphere, a certain laid-back buzz to this St. Annes restaurant that’s difficult to put your finger on. Saying it has imaginative food, attentive service and a relaxed ambience is true enough but doesn’t really paint the whole picture. I...
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It’s now more than two years since Twelve swept onto the Fylde dining scene, yet the buzz surrounding this Thornton restaurant shows no sign of diminishing. Reviews, on this site...
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Dining destination that Lytham is, it was always a little odd that it didn’t have an Indian restaurant. No more. The Red Fort opened its doors for business May 20, adding a much-needed touch of spice to leafy Lytham’s culinary landscape. It’s housed ...
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Speeding along the M55 from Blackpool to Preston it’s hard to imagine that you are passing through an area where time, relatively speaking, has stood still. Never a major transport artery, the Fylde is still pretty much the patchwork of roads, tracks...
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To find one of Blackpool’s most-acclaimed restaurants, you need to look on one its least-salubrious streets. King Street, with the bus station at one end and a boarded-up ABC cinema at the other, is the unlikely home to Kwizeen, the proud hold...
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Lytham has a long history of hospitality. Its first pub, The Jolly Sailor, opened its doors back in 1810 and although the hostelry is long gone you can still go there and grab a bite during the day. Located on Queen Street a block back from the green...
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Gary Rhodes does it. Jamie Oliver is doing it. So why not Clive Tolley? When he bought Ryecroft Hall in 1996 and added his name to it, more than a few local eyebrows were raised. But the fact is that both the building and the business were in dire ne...
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Most people planning a meal out don’t have hotel restaurants at the top of their list. It’s a shame because the Fylde boasts some excellent hotel dining options, ranging from glorious Victorian dining rooms, through stylish brasseries to isolated cou...
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The Plough is famous on two counts -- it’s the oldest pub in the Fylde and it’s the hardest to find. How old? The whitewashed main building was the site of a Civil War battle (Cuddy) and dates back to 1645. And the pub – which used to be called the P...
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Simply put, Greens is the AA’s top-rated restaurant on the Fylde Coast. But many local diners have never heard of it, and fewer still have been there. It’s what you might call a cult classic.
The bistro’s underground status is jealously guarded by...
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If ever a single building symbolized a town’s changing image, it’s the one at the corner of Poulton’s Breck and Vicarage roads. Not so long ago it was the local Conservative Club; today it’s a three-storey wine bar that wouldn’t look amiss in Manches...
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