Hospitality Hygiene Ratings by City
20 UK cities ranked by the food hygiene ratings of their restaurants, pubs, hotels and takeaways.
Across 64,853 hospitality businesses in 20 UK cities, the average food hygiene rating is 4.48 out of 5. 2,490 businesses (4.8%) score below 3, the threshold at which an environmental health officer expects to see improvement. Nottingham rates highest at 4.77, and Birmingham lowest at 4.18. Figures were captured on 2026-07-10 from Food Standards Agency open data.
This index covers hospitality venues only (restaurants, pubs, hotels, takeaways and caterers) and measures them by city. For every food business in the UK, including retailers and manufacturers, broken down by all 370 councils, read our UK Food Hygiene Ratings Report 2026.
UK cities ranked by average hygiene rating
Establishments within 5 miles of each city centre, on the 0 to 5 Food Hygiene Rating Scheme.
| # | City | Average rating | Rated 5 | Below 3 | Businesses rated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nottingham | 4.77 | 85.3% | 1.4% (28) | 1,996 |
| 2 | Oxford | 4.77 | 84.9% | 1.9% (17) | 881 |
| 3 | Brighton | 4.71 | 80.6% | 2% (34) | 1,675 |
| 4 | Cambridge | 4.59 | 72.6% | 3.3% (26) | 793 |
| 5 | Leeds | 4.59 | 70% | 2.3% (58) | 2,547 |
| 6 | Bristol | 4.58 | 72.9% | 2.9% (73) | 2,490 |
| 7 | York | 4.57 | 73.3% | 3.9% (45) | 1,166 |
| 8 | Sheffield | 4.56 | 71.6% | 2.9% (68) | 2,309 |
| 9 | Newcastle | 4.55 | 73.2% | 4.2% (87) | 2,054 |
| 10 | Southampton | 4.51 | 68.6% | 2.7% (34) | 1,253 |
| 11 | Belfast | 4.50 | 66.9% | 2.6% (45) | 1,721 |
| 12 | London | 4.48 | 69.6% | 5.2% (982) | 18,927 |
| 13 | Bath | 4.46 | 65.2% | 2.5% (16) | 643 |
| 14 | Manchester | 4.43 | 66.7% | 5.7% (245) | 4,261 |
| 15 | Cardiff | 4.41 | 63.4% | 3.9% (61) | 1,581 |
| 16 | Reading | 4.34 | 62.1% | 6% (54) | 894 |
| 17 | Liverpool | 4.30 | 62% | 7.1% (189) | 2,664 |
| 18 | Birmingham | 4.18 | 59.2% | 11% (428) | 3,891 |
What the numbers mean for an operator
A rating below 3 is not a hygiene problem in the abstract. It is a rating displayed at your door, printed on delivery platforms, and read by anyone deciding where to eat. In the cities we cover, 2,490 businesses are carrying one.
The spread between the best and worst city in this table is 0.59 of a rating point, which is smaller than the spread inside almost any single city. Where you trade matters far less than whether your paperwork, temperature records and management systems stand up on the day an inspector arrives.
If your rating has slipped, it can be recovered. Operators can request a re-inspection once the issues are fixed. We help with EHO preparation and hygiene rating improvement.
Using this data
You are welcome to cite these figures. Please credit Paddl and link to this page, and note the capture date (2026-07-10) since ratings change as inspections happen. The underlying data belongs to the Food Standards Agency and is published under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Read the full methodology for the sample, radius, business types and exclusions.
Rating below where it should be?
We work with operators to fix the systems behind the score, not just the score.