Harden’s Restaurant Guides are the longest- established pocket guide to London restaurants. Run by brothers Richard and Peter Harden, their mission is remarkably simple: to tell it how it is.

Harden’s Guides, run by brothers Richard and Peter Harden, is a publishing firm based just off the Strand in London.

Fifteen years ago, Richard and Peter launched their first and best-selling guide, Harden’s London Restaurants - now the longest-established pocket guide to London restaurants. In 1998 a companion volume was launched: Harden’s UK Restaurants. The opinions expressed in both guides are based on what is now the largest annual survey of restaurant-goers in the UK (over 8,000 people took part for the 2006 edition, contributing over 90,000 reports).

In addition the brothers have visited practically every restaurant listed in the London guide, and many of those listed in the UK volume. Their personal visits are always conducted anonymously, and at the firm’s expense.

Meet Richard & Peter

Richard (48) graduated from Christ’s College Cambridge with a degree in Economics and Law. An interest in food manifested itself in membership of the Cheese Appreciation Society and being Dinner Secretary of the college boat club. On leaving university, he qualified as a Barrister, before embarking on a career in the City, working initially at Baring Brothers and then at Samuel Montagu (now part of HSBC). In 1991, he founded Harden’s Guides with his brother Peter.

Peter (41) graduated with a degree in Natural Sciences and Law from Trinity College Cambridge. “Hoover” Harden’s legendary appetite was fuelled by rowing for the Goldie (the university second crew) and his position as food and drink secretary for his college ball. He too first went into finance, working as a junk bond analyst for the Saudi International Bank in New York, before returning to London to launch Harden’s Guides.

How the business began

The idea for Harden’s Guides came at the beginning of the 1990s, when Peter was working in New York and Richard in Düsseldorf. Both cities had handy, opinionated, pocket restaurant guides of a type which simply didn’t exist in London. The time seemed right to launch such a guide. The restaurant scene was just beginning to stir and, with great difficulty, a hundred people were persuaded to take part in the first London-wide survey. For nine months before publication of the first edition of Harden’s London Restaurants, Richard and Peter ate their way around the capital: between them the brothers consumed 600 meals out in a six-month period.

Fifteen years later, and the number of participants has increased eighty-fold. Yes, that’s 80 times more than Harden’s first guide with over 8,000 people casting their votes for the latest editions!

Contact: Peter Harden ph@hardens.com