Join the rewards club for food lovers and unlock rewards

Top 30 UK restaurants for private dining and events: part 3

Top 30 UK restaurants for private dining and events: part 3

Updated on 05 December 2017 • Written By Ben McCormack

Close map
Top 30 UK restaurants for private dining and events: part 3
Taken from our list of the UK’s 100 best restaurants, here’s the final instalment of our favourite restaurants for private events beyond London

21. The Kitchin 

Top 100 Restaurants The Kitchin

Private dining 20
Leith, Edinburgh, EH6 6LX
0131 555 1755


Tom Kitchin’s highly regarded restaurant comes with a whisky snug, temperature-controlled wine cellar and views of the kitchen from a specially designed window. The highly distinctive cooking is founded on seasonal produce and the chef greets everyone individually in the bar.  

22. Forest Side 

Top 100 Restaurants Forest Side Hotel 2

Private dining 10
Grasmere, Cumbria, LA22 9RN
01539 435250


Chef Kevin Tickle learned his trade at L’Enclume before decamping to this fairy-tale gothic mansion. For maximum thrills, order the 10-course ‘Grand ’Un’ tasting menu – an array of extraordinary dishes (many using foraged ingredients) guaranteed to blow you away.

23. Restaurant James Sommerin 

Top 100 Restaurants James Sommerin

Exclusive use 60 
Private dining 12
Penarth, Cardiff, CF64 3AU
029 2070 6559


James Sommerin delivers some show-stopping dishes, be it a liquid pea ravioli smothered in sage cream and Serrano ham or a dessert involving blackberry, yoghurt, honey and oatmeal. The restaurant occupies a grand old Edwardian building with estuary views.

24. Northcote 

Top 100 Restaurants Northcote

Private dining 14, 16, 36, 60
Langho, Lancashire, BB6 8BE
01254 240555


Synonymous with confidence, genuine warmth and top-ticket hospitality, Northcote is a bastion of unbridled generosity, complete with a cookery school, terrace tables and a stylishly reconfigured dining room, where guests enjoy wave upon wave of inventive seasonal food. 

25. Alimentum

Top 100 Restaurants Alimentum

Exclusive use 60 
Private dining 30
Cambridge, CB2 8PB
01223 413000


Modishly tricked out with polished wood floors, tinted glass, black tables and funky red chandeliers, Alimentum is a spot-on fit for Mark Poynton’s confident cooking – watch his team at work through a feature window that allows views into the kitchen. 

26. Read’s 

Top 100 Restaurants Reads

Private dining 20
Faversham, Kent, ME13 8XE
01795 535344


This Georgian manor house is the very model of an unpretentious country restaurant-with-rooms, with exquisite personal service overseen by the owners themselves. The Anglo-French cooking is founded on top-drawer ingredients and chef expertise.  

27. The Hardwick

Top 100 Restaurants The Hardwick

Exclusive use 80
Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, NP7 9AA 
01873 854220 


Stephen Terry’s much-lauded inn-with-rooms blends oak-beamed pubby rusticity with varnished wood furnishings and luxuriant leather sofas. The kitchen thinks big when it comes to local sourcing and contemporary flavours, with an emphasis on gutsy high-end cooking and flashy presentation.

28. Restaurant Martin Wishart

Top 100 Restaurants Martin Wishart

Exclusive use 50
Leith, Edinburgh, EH6 6RA
0131 553 3557


Standards remain sky-high at the eponymous flagship of chef Martin Wishart. His cooking takes account of Scottish produce, although his seasonally changing repertoire bears all the hallmarks of rarefied and refined French technique. Two tasting menus include one for veggies.  

29. Adam’s 

Top 100 Restaurants Adams Birmingham

Exclusive use 52 
Private dining 12, 18
Birmingham, B2 5UG
0121 643 3745


This head-turning Brummie challenger is bang on the money for a city with an ever-rising foodie profile. Stylish interiors are a dramatic backdrop for Adam Stokes’s cooking, which is defined by playful conceits and punchy flavours.

30. Paul Ainsworth at No.6 

Top 100 Restaurants Paul Ainsworth

Exclusive use 45 
Private dining 8
Padstow, Cornwall, PL28 8AP
01841 532093


Padstow is invariably associated with Rick Stein, but it’s Paul Ainsworth who is currently reckoned to be cooking the best food in town. His kitchen delivers inspired, fashionable dishes and the elegant Georgian house is a charmer. 

See the full list of the best restaurants around the UK – from the Scottish Highlands to the beaches of Cornwall – right here.
Join SquareMeal Rewards

Collect points, worth at least £1, every time you book online and dine at a participating restaurant.

Start Collecting Points

Already a member? Sign in