Are gastro pubs no more than trendy restaurants in disguise?

No

What I want today is different from what I wanted yesterday. How I spend my leisure time now has changed markedly from my youthful prime when I was happy to wander the high street bar circuit, ending up, befuddled with drink, at the local nightclub.

If I go out now, I invariably want somewhere to go that offers decent-quality food at reasonable prices. I've no interest in starchy and stuffy restaurants where some snooty maître d' scoffs at my lack of table manners or non-existent wine expertise. I can be chippy when it's obvious to all and sundry that I am an out-and-out peasant, quick to flounder in a world where menu items are written in French and cutlery selection relies on esoteric knowledge of social etiquette.

That's why I love gastro pubs. All we are talking about after all is a pub ­ but one that serves good quality food. There's really not that many of them just yet. Michelin has found 500 worth recommending. I reckon there's probably 2,000 out there worthy of the gastro pub mantle.

Like any umbrella term, "gastro pub" is confusing and a little blurry at the margins. For me, it simply points to a willingness to abandon the "ping" cuisine and offer something cooked fresh on the premises, using ingredients sourced locally. But that attitude in the kitchen ­ trying that bit harder ­ tends to flow through to the rest of the pub. You'll tend to find interesting beers and wines, unusual bar snacks, a sympathetic and tasteful approach to décor, enthusiastic and friendly service. That's not to say you won't come across the occasional gastro pub where the food is over-priced or menu items turn out to be a triumph of rhetorical flourish over culinary skill. But really, thank God for the gastro pub ­ for this growing pocket of excellence.

Go to the Olive Branch in Clipsham, Leicestershire, and enjoy fish and chips as good as any I've ever had. Pay a visit to the Hoste Arms in Norfolk's Burnham Market and enjoy great local mussels, cooked and served just a few hours after they've been bought at the quayside.

There is an utterly sterile debate about whether gastro pubs are still pubs; whether they automatically become restaurants when all the tables are given over to diners and there's no drinking space at the bar. First of all pubs, especially in many remote rural locations, have had to evolve to survive. With the current drink-driving laws, it's often only a quality food offering that will draw in customers on a wet Wednesday in January. If there's no drinking area at the bar, it's probably because the locals don't turn out in sufficient numbers to make it worth while catering for them. Even those gastro pubs that have done away with drinking areas to maximise their food takings are, I'd argue, absolutely and undeniably still pubs.

Owners know only too well that it's the sheer "pubbiness" of their venue that's the key to success. There's only a tiny drinking area at the Olive Branch but it still has the feel, the atmosphere, the vibe ­ call it what you will ­ of a pub. Nothing short of ripping the building down and re-building it as a Pizza Express will stop it feeling just like a pub.

Critics sometimes complain, in a kind of inverse snobbery, about the "type" of people who use gastro pubs. You know: their accents and their propensity for high-pitched braying. Well, I see plenty of people like me in gastro pubs ­ common-as-muck but fond of tasty tucker.

Pubs, especially in remote locations, have had to evolve