Restaurants must try harder to look after disabled guests

The 1996 Good Food Guide, published yesterday by Which?, claims that restaurants advertising wheelchair access often treat disabled customers as second-class citizens.

The guide calls for restaurateurs who have the space and resources to provide disabled facilities to check that they are doing so properly.

Some customers in wheelchairs, the guide says, find that furniture has to be moved and other diners disrupted before they can get to their table, or that car parking is unsuitable and lavatories have neither taps nor towels within reach.

There is little change in the list of top-rated restaurants in this year's guide, the most notable change being the drop of London's Bibendum from a 4* rating to 3*, out of a maximum of 5 marks for cooking.

Moving up to the 4* category is Gidleigh Park in Devon, where brilliant young chef Michael Caines has taken up where Shaun Hill left off. Paul Heathcote's restaurant at Longridge, Lancashire, also moves up from 4 to 4*.

Of all the much-hyped London openings over the past year, only Interlude de Chavot is top-rated. Eric Chavot's restaurant is awarded 4 marks.