Richard Vines on being UK chair of World’s 50 Best Restaurants

Earlier this year BigHospitality announced that Jay Rayner, UK chair of the S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards would be stepping down from his position of three years.

With the responsibility of choosing 30 regional judges and overseeing their votes, the role is pivotal in establishing each year’s list of the best restaurants in the world.

As such Bloomberg’s chief food critic Richard Vines, who has 35 years’ experience as a journalist and seven writing about the restaurant industry, was invited to step into the role in July this year.

BigHospitality caught up with him at Brett Graham’s The Ledbury in Notting Hill, which entered the list at number 34 this year, to find out how he intends to handle the vital role of UK chair.