Merseyside seaside town named as having joint best food hygiene in UK

The town is home to some of the region's top restaurants10:51, 07 Aug 2026Updated 10:53, 07 Aug 2026A Merseyside seaside town has been named the joint best location across the UK for food hygiene ratings. Southport scored an average rating of 4.92 from more than 400 venues, joint first with Ipswich in the national rankings for towns and cities.‌The High Speed Training report, which analysed Food Standards Agency (FSA) data for almost 240,000 food businesses across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, found that in the North West, the average food hygiene rating across all food establishments was 4.48 from 27,070 premises, which places the region eighth in the national rankings.‌The report analysed food establishments in four categories: Restaurants/Cafes/Canteens, Takeaways/Sandw