The Good Food Guide has today announced its annual 100 Best Local Restaurants list. Celebrating the very best of British dining, these hugely popular awards celebrate the best independent restaurants from Scotland to Cornwall, and Norfolk to North Wales. Bavette in Horsforth, Leeds, has been crowned Britain’s Best Local Restaurant, having beaten off competition from across the country to take the prestigious title for 2024.
This year, The Good Food Guide received an astonishing number of nominations from diners across the country, all eager to support their favourite places to eat. An unprecedented 60,000 votes were cast, leaving the Guide’s team of expert inspectors with the tasty task of anonymously dining in a vast number of restaurants across the country. The result is a snapshot of extraordinary local creativity and talent, personal hospitality, and genuine community spirit.
Bavette, the model of a perfect local restaurant
Owned by the experienced husband and husband team of Sandy Jarvis and Clément Cousin, Bavette quickly captured the hearts of Horsforth locals and diners from all over the Leeds metropolitan area when it opened in February 2024.
Bavette’s customers and the anonymous inspectors from The Good Food Guide were impressed with the natural ease and warmth of hospitality at the lively French bistro. This was backed up by Jarvis’ menu of authentic, beautifully executed French classics. Overall, it’s believed that the restaurant has elevated the dining experience in Leeds and beyond, setting the standard for the perfect local restaurant. This win is truly impressive and well-deserved.
Chloë Hamilton, co-editor of The Good Food Guide, expands on what makes Bavette a worthy winner: ‘With Sandy and Clément’s backgrounds in some of London’s top establishments (Terroirs, where they met, is a strong influence), opening a restaurant together in an outer suburb of Leeds looked great on paper. But the way they’ve brought it to life – excellent bistro cooking, an adventurous, engaging wine list (including bottles from Clément’s family of organic winemakers in the Loire), and the energy and warmth of the team – make it irresistible. They’ve had 1st birthday parties and 90th birthday parties here. It has lit up the community.’
Reflecting on their win, Sandy and Clément said: ‘We are completely gobsmacked about winning the Best Local Restaurant Award. To be included in the top 100 in our first few months would have been a great achievement but to be the overall winner is such a huge honour and testament to all the hard work of the team since day one, so this is for them. Our sign above the door says “a neighbourhood bistro” and being a great local restaurant is everything we wanted Bavette to be. Thank you to everyone who has come through our doors over the past five months, you’ve made Bavette what it is.’