Pub food getting too fancy, says Michelin guide

Some of the country's best food pubs are running the risk of transforming themselves into restaurants, the editor of the Michelin Eating In Pubs Guide has warned.

Pubs are charging too much and getting too fancy with their food, says Derek Bulmer, who has just published the 2007 edition of the best selling guide, which lists more than 550 of the best pubs serving good food in the UK and Ireland.

"While its great news that so many pubs are offering quality food, there's a danger that they're losing sight of what a pub is all about," Mr Bulmer told The Publican. "They're charging restaurant prices, and instead of traditional pub grub like steak and kidney pie and sausage and mash, it's sea bass on the menu."

Shockingly, one pub recently reported to the guide it even had white linen tablecloths. "That's not what gastro-pubs are about," says Mr Bulmer. "Fifteen years ago, when the term was first coined, it was all about good food in a traditional pub setting."

He welcomed the entry of more 'celebrity' chefs in the pub trade. "We've seen it with Jean Christophe Novelli and Anthony Worall Thompson, and more recently Heston Blumenthal and now Gordon Ramsay. It's good news if it means the quality of pub food will improve."

However, the guide will be keeping an eye on the big-name chefs to ensure they stay on the right side of the pub/restaurant divide.

"What I say to my team of inspectors is that if it's somewhere you'd feel comfortable going up to the bar and just having a pint, then it's a pub. If not, judge it as a restaurant and we'll put in our Restaurant Guide."