Restaurants’ loud music proves a turn off for diners

Good Food Guide criticises rise in noise levels as it picks top venues

GOOD food, great wine, and tantalising conversation with your favourite companions are the key ingredients to an enjoyable restaurant experience.

But according to critics at the Good Food Guide, a growing number of establishments are putting off customers by deafening them with “Glastonburyforce” songs.

This year’s guide, published today, warns of an “unprecedented” trend for loud music in restaurants, which is leading to a spike in complaints about noise from customers.

Elizabeth Carter, editor of the guide, said: “Restaurants are getting noisier – that’s what our readers, this year in unprecedented numbers, are telling us. Noise levels, already amplified by barebones design, are being raised by music played at Glastonbury force. Everyone loves a restaurant that has a buzzing, vibrant atmosphere, but it becomes exhausting and self-defeating when, as one old hand told us: ‘I have never heard such loudly amplified music in an eating place. It was so loud that I couldn’t hear a word the waitress was saying, and vice versa. We had to gesture and point’.”

An interior trend for minimal concrete walls and floors – which according to Ms Carter is “not just in hipster places” – is also affecting the acoustics in restaurants, making it difficult for people to hear each other.

According to Action for Hearing Loss, a campaign group, 50 per cent of people over 50 have some degree of hearing loss.

A recent study by the charity found that 90 per cent of people with hearing difficulties felt background noise was the biggest problem they faced when eating out.

Ms Carter revealed that a number of the guide’s inspectors had to ask top restaurants to turn music down, with one reporting “inappropriate” Simon and Garfunkel songs being played on full blast in an exclusive country retreat.

When it came to the restaurant awarded the top spot in this year’s guide, she admitted that she was unable to remember what music was playing, claiming this was a sign that it was perfectly chosen.

This year’s winner was Cornwall-based Restaurant Nathan Outlaw, which was crowned for its simple fresh fish menu, relaxed atmosphere and being “the whole package”.

Outlaw takes the title of Britain’s best restaurant from L’enclume in Cumbria, which had held the title for four years.

However, Simon Rogan’s L’enclume still retains a perfect 10 score for its “knockout dishes”.