Harden’s Top 100 Best UK Restaurants diners’ poll has been released today alongside its annual dining guide
Skof in Manchester
Two Greater Manchester restaurants have been named among the top eateries in the UK. The dining spots have been voted in Harden’s Top 100 Best UK Restaurants diner’s 2026 released today (Thursday, December 4).
Harden’s is the only surviving established UK restaurant guides based on feedback from diners rather than a group of professional inspectors. Now in its 35th year, it has become a go-to for authoritative dining suggestions.
The top 100 restaurants are served from 30,000 reports with ratings submitted by 2,500 diners who contributed to the Harden’s annual survey. The data shows that Cumbria is the county with the highest number of top 100 restaurants outside of the capital.
Meanwhile, cementing the North West as one of the most exciting dining scenes, Moor Hall in Aughton, West Lancashire, run by chef-patron Mark Birchall, has been voted the best restaurant in the UK in the latest edition. Simon Rogan’s 2024 winner, L’Enclume in Cartmel, Cumbria, has taken the runner-up position.
Moor Hall, Aughton, Lancs
The wider region has recorded 149 entries in the full Harden’s guide this year. Securing 12 venues in the Top 100 is the strongest performance of any UK region outside London.
In Manchester, two restaurants that share a very unique calling card, have been named in the top 20. Enjoying a landmark year, both of Manchester’s Michelin-starred restaurants made the top 100, and in the wider 2026 guide the city leads for total number of entries with 47 venues listed. In Greater Manchester in total there’s 53 venues.
Skof has landed an ‘exceptional’ Top 10 debut, just one year after opening. Diners praised chef Tom Barnes’ cooking for “inventive dishes with the highest-quality ingredients, showcasing seasonality, local sourcing and superb wine pairings”, and the guide highlights the four-course lunch (£55) as “an amazing meal for a great price.”
Tucked inside an old textile building, the restaurant prides itself on its quality ingredients and simplicity with a focus on modern British cooking, but without any pretences or needs for a specific dress code. Offering both a set lunch menu as well as a show-stopping 12-course or 16-course tasting menu, it was hailed as being ‘the Eiffel Tower of cuisine’ by one food critic just weeks after opening.
Chef patron Tom Barnes opened Skof in Manchester last May(Image: Cristian Barnett)
Meanwhile, Mana which has featured in the top 100 for several years moved up to 11 for 2026. Last year it ranked in 29th while in 2023 it came in at 97th.
Run by chef-patron Simon Martin, Mana has held a Michelin Star since 2019. It became the first Manchester city centre restaurant in 40 years to achieve the honour. It has earned acclaim for its 11, for its “interesting and innovative cuisine with unique flavours” and “superb service.”
The Ancoats fine dining restaurant, where the full main tasting menu can fetch you back £175, features a menu celebrating an elevated take on UK-sourced ingredients with an emphasis on ‘fermentation and fire’.
The North West is the region with the most Top 100 entries outside of London, with 12 restaurants securing places. And while Liverpool narrowly misses a Top 100 placing this year, the city still secures 19 entries in the Harden’s 2026 guide, with The Art School rated as “Outstanding.”
Ancoats restaurant mana named among the very best in the UK(Image: Mike Dinsdale/ Midi Photography)
Cumbria strengthens its reputation as one of the UK’s finest rural dining destinations with seven entries in the Top 100 – two more than last year. These include L’Enclume in Cartmel at number 2; Heft in Newton-in-Cartmel at number 47; The Cedar Tree at Farlam Hall at 67; The Forest Side in the Lake District at number 70; Allium at Askham Hall, Penrith at 77; The Cottage in the Wood, Braithwaite at number 84; and Old Stamp House, Ambleside at number 92.
Meanwhile in Lancashire there was a strong showing beyond Moor Hall with sō-lō, in Aughton landing at number 86 and Northcote in Langho at number 13.
Reflecting on this year’s findings, Peter Harden said: “It’s understandable that over the last 12 months the hospitality industry has been toiling away under a cloud of gloomsterism. Hit by food inflation, rising wages, relentless rent increases and soaring utilities – some long-term operators say that 2025 is the toughest year they can recall.
“However, what our survey results and data-crunching from across the sector shows is the remarkable resilience at work from those in the trade – particularly in the North West. Our number of entries remains very steady, and strong newcomers are emerging in each area of a quality that is probably better than ever.
Chef Simon Martin of Mana restaurant in Ancoats(Image: Mike Dinsdale/ Midi Photography)
“What is challenging for suppliers can be good for consumers. Customer expectations are so high now, restaurants have to work ever-harder to cut through and we’re seeing a number of new openings from across the UK going straight into the Top 100 – or, in Skof’s case, the Top 10!
“This really is testament to the rigorous standards, hard work and innovation being put in by front and back of house teams who are impressively determined to find a way in difficult circumstances and continue to raise the bar to bring diners high quality experiences.”