The best breakfasts in Britain

Hawksmoor, London (breakfast is only served at Guildhall, EC2) Although better known for its steak, Hawksmoor’s mammoth full English designed for two is decadent and gloriously gluttonous. Indulge in a smoked-bacon chop, sausages made with pork, beef and mutton, black pudding, short-rib bubble and squeak, grilled bone marrow, trotter baked beans, fried eggs, grilled mushrooms, roast tomatoes, HP gravy and toast 020–7397 8120; www.thehawksmoor.com

Quo Vadis, Soho, London W1

The English Breakfast Society’s favourite establishment serves bacon, sausage, black pudding, egg, tomato and fried bread in a breakfast that they promise will ‘have your tastebuds buzzing for days’ 020–7437 9585; www.quovadissoho.co.uk

Daily Bread, near Tunbridge Wells, Kent

A little breakfast treasure: the owners smoke their own bacon, design their own sausages and even make their own baked beans for their classic combination of sausage, bacon, black pudding, baked beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, a choice of eggs and bread 01892 457007

Merkin’s Cafe, near Melksham, Wiltshire

Locals say Merkin’s full English—which comprises locally sourced bacon, sausage, fried eggs, baked beans, black pudding, hash brown, mushrooms, tomatoes and a slice of toast—is a tour de force 01225 869487; www.merkinsfarm.com

The Koffee Pot, Manchester

Feast on a full English of bacon, sausage, beans, tomato, hash brown, fried egg and Bury black pudding; a full Irish (with white pudding and potato cake); or a full Scottish (with Lorne sausage, haggis and tattie cake) 0161–236 8918; www.thekoffeepot.co.uk