Dining rooms disagree on dress code's decline

Is the restaurant dress code dead?

The latest edition of the Good Food Guide has dropped all references to it because the number of dining rooms that insist customers dress formally has plunged.

Now an industry veteran has attacked the "stupidity" of restaurant dress codes, saying they are stuffy and restricting, and has called on establishments that impose them to move with the times.

Joe Warwick, former editor of Restaurant magazine, wrote in Waitrose Food Illustrated: "A blanket ban on jeans, for instance, is plain daft. Not all jeans are created equal and to throw together the ripped, paintsplattered, soiled sort with the designer variety that can cost upward of £200 is ridiculous.

"For that matter, to judge someone in a grotty suit as better dressed than someone in a sports jacket and a smart pair of 501s is equally nonsensical."

Richard Harden, co-editor of Harden's Guide, said: "Even 20 years ago restaurants were not that different from the mould established by Escoffier. Now everyone goes to restaurants all the time."

But etiquette expert Mary Killen said: "It is a shame. However, as long as a few

places retain dress codes they will gain because they are providing a specialist service."

Author Linda Grant wrote last month: "It is a depressing experience to sit in a beautiful room eating delicious food and see at the next table a party dressed in beige fleeces and Cornish pasty shoes.

"If you have waited five months to get a table at the Ivy, don't you want to wear something nice?"

FORMAL OR CASUAL

Cecconi's, W1: No dress code.
Savoy Grill, WC2 Weekdays - smart, no jeans, no trainers, no shorts, ties not necessary; weekends - smart casual, ties not necessary.
Wiltons, SW1: Smart casual, jacket required, ideally not trainers, jeans are acceptable.
Le Gavroche, W1: Smart casual, jacket required.
Pétrus, SW1: Smart, no jeans, no trainers, jacket preferred, shirt with a collar required.
Claridge's, W1: Smart, shirt and jacket preferred, no jeans, no trainers, tie optional.
The Wolseley, W1: No dress code.
The Ivy, WC2 No dress code.
Le Caprice, SW1: "Not scruffy".
Annabel's, W1: No jeans or trainers, tie not required, jacket and standard shirt collar are.
San Lorenzo, SW3 Smart casual, no trainers, jeans acceptable.
Nobu, W1: Smart casual, jeans and trainers acceptable.