Hotel hits 50 years in food guide

The restaurant at the Porth Tocyn Hotel in Abersoch - owned by the same family for 60 years - entered the guide in 1957 and has never been dropped.

It is a feat shared by only three other restaurants - two in London and the other in East Grinstead, West Sussex.

Hotel owner Nick Fletcher-Brewer said: "We feel we know good food and service and we stick to it."

Mr Fletcher-Brewer admitted there was a fair amount of luck involved in staying in the guide, but said it was also down maintaining high standards.

He said: "The place is nearly 60 years old now and it has always been owned by the family.

"This has probably given us a certain independence to do things our way. Our guests seem to love the standards we set and the performance we lay on night after night and seemingly so does The Which? Good Food Guide."

But the hotel owner said not many dishes had survived the full 50 years.

"Tastes have moved on so much over the past 50 years and the range of produce available now would have been unimaginable in 1957. After all rationing had only finished in 1954," he added.

"Although I suppose things have turned full circle in a way, as increasingly we try and source as much produce as possible locally just as they would have had to do in the 50s."

Elizabeth Carter, Consultant Editor at The Which? Good Food Guide said: "The guide has a long history of recognising the highest standards of food across the United Kingdom, so any restaurant that achieves a listing for 50 consecutive years has something to be proud of."

The other restaurants that have spent 50 or more uninterrupted years in the Which guide are the Connaught Hotel and the Gay Hussar in London, and Gravetye Manor Hotel in West Sussex.

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