Here are a few of our favourite places for business lunches in cities across the UK. Our experts always have insider tips on the best places to go so let us know when you’re next looking to entertain and we'll make bookings, hire private rooms and organise transport too.
Michael Caines
ABode, 107 Piccadilly, Manchester M1 2DB
‘This stylish restaurant has a buzz about it during lunchtime and the food is fantastic as well as being excellent value for money,' says lifestyle manager Claire Jackson. There's little doubt that at £23.50 for three courses – with wines – Michael Caines is the best-priced lunch option in the city. The Manchester outpost of this Michelin-starred chef's empire offers a taste of his acclaimed modern European cooking with a set lunch menu that features smoked trout, braised mutton shoulder, wild mushroom lasagne and lemon tart. The only problem is that a return to the office will look even less enticing after a brisk tour of the wine list.
Edmunds
6 Central Square, Brindley Place, Birmingham B1 2JB
Located in Brindley Place, Birmingham's urbane canalside district, Edmunds serves a classically French menu that boldly eschews trendy culinary theatrics in favour of simple flavoursome cooking. Its seasonal menu changes frequently, but expect the set lunch to feature dishes such as roasted Cornish lamb with minted spiced lentils or sea bass with a red wine sauce. The dining room is formal enough for a special occasion but feels warmly intimate rather than stuffy, further buoyed by the chatter of satisfied diners praising chef Andy Waters' cooking.
60 Hope Street
60 Hope Street, Liverpool L1 9BZ (pictured)
This is a Georgian townhouse on Liverpool's fashionable Hope Street, with a modern eclectic menu that is particularly known for its seafood. The main restaurant is fashionably minimalist, while the more informal and less costly but stylish bistro offers a relaxed atmosphere at lunchtime. Its beer-battered fish and chips has won fans throughout the city.
Tower Restaurant
Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1JF
This rooftop restaurant perched on top of the Museum of Scotland has earned a reputation for both its views across the Scottish capital and its unfussy, flavoursome cuisine using the best local ingredients. The menu features seasonal game, Angus beef, lamb, Argyll oysters and other local seafood and has earned a loyal following among Edinburgh locals as well as the Good Food, Michelin, Fodor's and Frommer's guides.
Stock
The Stock Exchange, 4 Norfolk Street, Manchester M2 IDW
Manchester's best Italian restaurant is housed in a Grade II-listed building that – appropriately enough for a business lunch – was formerly the city's stock exchange, with an impressive domed ceiling that soars 50 feet above the white linen and marble of the dining room. Its style may be sharply tailored, but the cooking is satisfyingly robust and rustic, serving dishes such as escalopes of veal rolled with mortadella, breast of chicken stuffed with garlic butter, and artichoke and parmesan risotto.
Turners
69 High Street, Harborne, Birmingham B17 9NS
This welcoming restaurant just outside Birmingham's city centre feels like a modest neighbourhood venue, but its sophisticated menu has made it one of Birmingham’s culinary highlights. Richard Turner brings the best out of his seasonal produce with precise cooking and the occasional flourish: black pudding purée accompanies the tender pig cheeks while the salmon comes with a horseradish foam. It's a small venue and, since it received a Michelin star in 2009, its tables have become highly sought after, meaning that booking is essential.
Panoramic
34th Floor, West Tower, Brook Street, Liverpool L3 9PJ
Panoramic is Britain's tallest restaurant and its huge floor-to-ceiling windows make the most of the view that – on a clear day – stretches beyond the Mersey to the hills of north Wales. ‘This is the only restaurant in Liverpool with amazing views over the city and estuary,' Claire says. ‘The restaurant has a simple, classic style and, as chef Chris Marshall trained with Gary Rhodes, the food is top-notch.'
