Bath Restaurants

The can-can dancers or Councillor Colin Barrett, aka the Mayor of Bath: whose presence most dominated the opening ceremony of the latest branch of upmarket high street confectioners Patisserie Valerie in Bath last week? Whoever you plump for as your personal favourite, not everybody welcomed the arrival of yet another high street chain to the city’s literal High Street.

“This is the sort of thing that’ll eventually kill Bath’s independent food businesses completely,” one local trader told The Pig on PV’s opening day. “”We don’t need some London-based chain making cakes for us!”.

Okay, Mr Grumpy has got a point: chains and franchises who can afford to offer loss-leading deals and employ super-pushy PR companies aren’t good news for small businesses who are already struggling against being gobbled up by the Fat Cats – and nobody wants Bath to turn into a set from The Truman Show. Meanwhile, The Pig is confident that there are probably many posh patissieres in our immediate catchment area who – just like Mr Grumpy – are seething about PV swanning into Bath for a slice of their action. Similarly, there’ll be plenty of local dough boys (and girls) who wish Pizza Express (about to open a new branch in SouthGate) would sling their hook, city centre-based pub landlords who wish Bonhams Auction House had kept the hammer down on their vacated building altogether and disgruntled Bath-born sushi chefs who wish YO! would do the decent thing and just go.

While The Pig attempts to maintain an impartial approach to all sides of any story, we exist to promote businesses and events in Bath directly to those most likely to make full use of them. So come on, people: instead of bemoaning the fact that Patisserie Valerie is eating up local cashpoint calories, drop us a line and let us know which Bath bakeries make the best, Bath-made cakes. If Pizza Express is p-ing you off, tell us where your favourite local alternatives are. If you think the lovely Yen Sushi is already doing a much better job than the flashy new kid on the chopping block, leave a comment to let our subscribers know exactly why. While The Pig isn’t claiming to be the only way forward on the Fight the Franchise campaign, making friends with us is a heck of a lot more pro-active than whining into a cupcake.