Customer Rating: 
Summary: The definitive guide - keep it in the car
Comment: If you happen to be out and about around the countryside (or towns & cities), what better way to while away a couple of hours than in a cosy pub. This is THE guide to keep at hand / in your car etc. In it you'll find the most up-to-date information there is about all the best pubs to go to for real ales, wholesome pub grub, or fine dining. I've been using the Good Pub Guides for the last few years & haven't yet been disappointed by any of the featured or recommended pubs. Well worth investing in a copy as it saves you disappointing trips to mediocre pubs, or wasted journeys to a pub only to find that they don't have on offer what you're looking for (food / children's play area etc.).
Along with the featured pubs for each county, there are a whole host of extra pubs listed at the back of the book that have been recommended by readers - with so much information the only difficulty is choosing which one to go to. Useful for everyday reference, but especially useful for holidays, weekend breaks and finding travel stops on journeys. Once you've got a copy, you'll start to wonder how you got by without it!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Makes British life just that little bit better
Comment: The new edition has undergone a minor redesign, which is an improvement, but is nothing like as extensive as, say, the Good Food Guide's redesign. Maybe next year? It'd be a good idea.
I still reckon this is the best pub guide around. It is consistent, it doesn't recommend too frivolously, it sticks a lot to pubs it has featured before except if there's been a big drop in standards. One criticism could be that it doesn't encompass enough pubs, and consistently ignores certain establishments. In London for example, there are many pubs, particularly gastro ones, that get in all the other guides but not this one (eg The Cow). But it would be impossible to feature ALL good pubs in the UK; the Guide does a pretty good job of surveying what's out there.
I can say one thing: I have never strongly disliked a pub I have visited because of a recommendation. Virtually all have been great, and I've made many happy discoveries all over the country.
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