Ronay inspectors to check out pub food

Egon Ronay has been commissioned by several pub companies to send pairs of incognito inspectors to check out the quality of food across pubs in the Midlands and the North.

The resulting report will be similar to Ronay's publication on eating at British airports, paid for by the BAA, but will be unavailable to the public.

Ronay said he was unable to name the companies involved because of a confidentiality agreement. The report is intended to give the pub groups independent feedback on their own food and that of the competition.

"It will be an extremely detailed report," he said.

Ronay said he was still working on relaunching his own restaurant guide, for which there is to be an Internet listing and a printed version, but added that it may not happen until next year.

He has been in talks with three potential backers, but said he faced a "mammoth task" to re-establish the guide because he had to start from scratch with the research.

In October 1997 Ronay won back the right to publish the guide under his own name following a High Court battle.

"It will be almost impossible for it to be the same size to begin with - we have to start again," he said. by Christina Golding