Research
UK Hospitality Food Hygiene Map
375,015 UK restaurants, cafes, pubs, bars, hotels, takeaways and mobile caterers rated for food hygiene, aggregated by local authority and business type from the FSA's live ratings API. Aggregate statistics only. Pulled 2026-07-23.
Key findings
- 375,015 hospitality establishments across the UK carry a current FHRS or FHIS food hygiene rating, spanning restaurants and cafes, pubs and bars, hotels and guest houses, takeaways, mobile caterers and other catering premises.
- 77.0% of rated establishments in England, Wales and Northern Ireland hold the top FHRS score of 5 (very good).
- Ratings vary noticeably by business type: restaurants, cafes and canteens has a different top-rating share to hotels, b&bs and guest houses, reflecting differences in kitchen complexity, footfall and inspection risk category.
- Local authority top-rating shares range widely even among comparably sized authorities, a genuine signal of both inspection intensity and underlying standards, not just of scale.
Source: Food Standards Agency Ratings API. Aggregate statistics only: no individual establishment is named. Figures may be cited with attribution to Hospitality Tax.
Hygiene ratings by business type
Share of rated establishments holding the top FHRS score of 5, by hospitality business type (England, Wales and Northern Ireland only; Scotland uses the separate FHIS Pass / Improvement Required scale, shown below).
| Business type | Rated establishments | Top rating (5) share |
|---|---|---|
| Restaurants, cafes and canteens | 140,160 | 75.4% |
| Other catering premises | 75,527 | 89.0% |
| Takeaways and sandwich shops | 63,029 | 61.0% |
| Pubs, bars and nightclubs | 50,619 | 76.9% |
| Mobile caterers | 31,085 | 88.3% |
| Hotels, B&Bs and guest houses | 14,595 | 85.3% |
Local authority league tables
Local authorities with at least 150 rated hospitality establishments, ranked by the share holding a top FHRS rating of 5. No individual establishment is named; every row is a local-authority aggregate.
Highest top-rating (5) share
| Local authority | Hospitality establishments | Top rating (5) share |
|---|---|---|
| Bassetlaw | 716 | 97.5% |
| Wrexham | 689 | 97.1% |
| Ipswich | 624 | 95.5% |
| Thanet | 1,040 | 95.5% |
| Chichester | 870 | 95.0% |
| Dorset | 3,429 | 94.7% |
| South Ribble | 474 | 94.5% |
| Forest of Dean | 438 | 93.5% |
| North Kesteven | 651 | 93.3% |
| Lincoln City | 706 | 93.2% |
| Redcar and Cleveland | 774 | 92.9% |
| Stockton On Tees | 808 | 92.6% |
| Castle Point | 326 | 92.4% |
| Hartlepool | 464 | 92.4% |
| Tandridge | 447 | 92.3% |
Lowest top-rating (5) share
| Local authority | Hospitality establishments | Top rating (5) share |
|---|---|---|
| Blaenau Gwent | 306 | 42.7% |
| Waltham Forest | 1,069 | 49.8% |
| Wigan | 1,605 | 51.6% |
| Merthyr Tydfil | 332 | 51.7% |
| Bolton | 1,339 | 51.9% |
| Newham | 1,620 | 52.3% |
| Barking and Dagenham | 781 | 52.4% |
| Ealing | 2,061 | 54.3% |
| Enfield | 1,451 | 56.7% |
| Barnet | 1,749 | 57.5% |
| Camden | 2,955 | 57.9% |
| Derbyshire Dales | 586 | 58.3% |
| Walsall | 1,260 | 58.5% |
| Caerphilly | 844 | 58.6% |
| Wyre | 591 | 59.8% |
Highest hospitality establishment count (density)
| Local authority | Hospitality establishments | Top rating (5) share |
|---|---|---|
| Birmingham | 6,026 | 63.3% |
| Leeds | 4,687 | 73.0% |
| Westminster | 4,492 | 70.0% |
| North Yorkshire | 4,382 | 83.7% |
| Manchester | 4,313 | 70.7% |
| Somerset | 3,832 | 85.8% |
| Cornwall | 3,735 | 83.3% |
| Dorset | 3,429 | 94.7% |
| Sheffield | 3,110 | 73.0% |
| Bristol | 3,023 | 75.1% |
| Liverpool | 2,958 | 64.8% |
| Camden | 2,955 | 57.9% |
| Durham | 2,833 | 72.2% |
| Bradford | 2,810 | 70.2% |
| Buckinghamshire | 2,797 | 79.7% |
Methodology, licence and sources
Data source. The Food Standards Agency Ratings API (api.ratings.food.gov.uk) provides free, keyless programmatic access to every FHRS (England, Wales, Northern Ireland) and FHIS (Scotland) rated food business in the UK. We query six hospitality-relevant business types: Restaurants, cafes and canteens, Other catering premises, Hotels, B&Bs and guest houses, Pubs, bars and nightclubs, Takeaways and sandwich shops, Mobile caterers. Retailers, schools/colleges, hospitals/childcare/caring premises, distributors/transporters, importers/exporters, manufacturers/packers and farmers/growers are excluded as non-hospitality.
Aggregation rule. AGGREGATE STATISTICS ONLY. No individual establishment name, address or FHRSID is stored or published anywhere in this dataset or the page that renders it. All figures are counts and percentages grouped by local authority and by business type. This is a deliberate policy, not a technical limitation: FSA rating data can identify specific low-rated businesses and this asset does not name any.
Licence. FSA open-data terms and conditions (treated as open + attribution; no bare OGL badge published for this dataset). Free to cite with attribution to Hospitality Tax.
Caveats. Local authority league tables are restricted to local authorities operating the FHRS 0-5 scale (England, Wales, Northern Ireland) with at least 150 rated hospitality establishments, to avoid small-sample noise. Scotland uses the FHIS Pass / Improvement Required scale, which is not numerically comparable to the 0-5 scale, and is reported as a separate national pass rate. Ratings reflect the most recent inspection on file at pull date and are not real-time; some establishments show 'Awaiting Inspection' or 'Exempt' and are excluded from rated-total denominators.
Updated. Pulled 2026-07-23. The FSA API is refreshed daily as local authorities publish new inspections; this snapshot is a point-in-time extract.
- FSA Food Hygiene Ratings open data (Food Standards Agency)
Keep your compliance as sharp as your hygiene rating.
Food hygiene inspections sit alongside VAT, payroll and business rates as part of running a compliant hospitality business. Our team works exclusively with UK hospitality operators on the tax and accounting side.
Frequently asked questions
What is the FHRS and FHIS food hygiene rating?
The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) is used in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, scoring food businesses from 0 (urgent improvement necessary) to 5 (very good) after an inspection by the local authority. Scotland runs a separate scheme, the Food Hygiene Information Scheme (FHIS), which uses a Pass or Improvement Required outcome instead of a numeric score. Both schemes are run by local authorities and published by the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
What share of UK hospitality businesses have a top hygiene rating?
Across the FHRS-rated hospitality establishments covered here (England, Wales and Northern Ireland), 77.0% hold the top rating of 5. In Scotland, under the separate FHIS scheme, 91.6% of rated hospitality establishments hold a Pass.
Does this page name any specific business or its rating?
No. This page and its underlying dataset report aggregate counts only, grouped by local authority and by business type (restaurants and cafes, pubs and bars, hotels, takeaways, mobile caterers, other catering premises). No individual establishment name, address or FSA establishment ID (FHRSID) appears anywhere in the dataset or on this page. This is a deliberate policy to avoid identifying any specific low-rated business.
Why do some local authorities show much higher or lower top-rating shares?
Differences can reflect local authority inspection frequency and backlog, the age and condition of the local hospitality stock, local authority resourcing for environmental health teams, and genuine variation in food hygiene standards. Local authorities with under 150 rated hospitality establishments are excluded from the league tables here to avoid small-sample noise.
Where does this data come from and how often is it updated?
Data comes from the FSA Ratings API (api.ratings.food.gov.uk), a free, keyless, publicly accessible API covering every FHRS and FHIS rated food business in the UK, refreshed as local authorities publish new inspections. This page reflects a point-in-time pull; ratings on the live FSA site may have changed since.