London Food Bloggers by Social Media Presence

London Food Bloggers by Social Media Presence

Updated for 2018!

Looking for London’s top food and restaurant bloggers? Have I got a list for you!! To help everyone get to know some of London’s most popular restaurant bloggers, I put together a list of the top London food blogs on my radar. This list was originally created in 2015, when I took at look at the top restaurant bloggers on Urbanspoon and pulled together all the stats on their Twitter, Facebook and Instagram followers. Urbanspoon has since shut down — they were bought out by Zomato and then killed and the Zomato list of London restaurant bloggers is now entirely different and a little weird, frankly — so  now I’ve just updated the list based on what I know.

Why did I put this together? Up until around 2011, I used to be one of London’s top restaurant bloggers. (3500 followers on Twitter was a lot back then.) But then I moved back to the US for work. I’ve been back in London since 2014 (wild horses etc etc) but I don’t blog as much as I used to. I still love to read all the London restaurant blogs through!

London Food Bloggers: Updated List for 2018

OK, here’s my updated list of London food and restaurant bloggers by social media profile…I added myself at the end because, uh, this is my list? I  left out accounts that are purely Instagram accounts; I was specifically focused on folks with an appreciation of long-form writing because I like words and really, this isn’t a list of London’s top food and restaurant Instagrammers.

I also left out blogs that were more lifestyle content than London restaurant content. (But hey, I’m a reasonable person. Email me or comment below if you think you should be listed here.)

You can click on the column headings to rank. Enjoy.

Blog	Twitter	Facebook	Instagram	Reach
Cheese & Biscuits	33700	1801	3994	39495
Wrap Your Lips Around This	3800	995	34300	39095
Samphire & Salsify	7619	717	24500	32836
We the Food Snobs	5833	564	24100	30497
London Eater	10800	2361	14300	27461
Andy Hayler	15800		8416	24216
Her Fave Food	11200	312	9995	21507
The Foodaholic	12300	1098	6374	19772
Sharking for Chips and Drinks	8826	966	5674	15466
Matt The List	5591	885	4548	11024
Curious London	4921	1415	1067	7403
Passport Delicious	3477	218	1041	4736
The Food Connoisseur	2789	1299	291	4379
Food Diaries London	1099	1061	2124	4284
In Her 30s	2155	139	699	2993
Picky Glutton	1471		475	1946
Vi Vian's	988	431	289	1708

Big Observation on London Food Blogs

The biggest gains in followers occurred on Instagram. I still have the old table if you’d like to look at it. I mean, it makes sense but it also drives me crazy because you’re liking the PHOTO and not the words. Also, I am concerned that some Instagrammers are not disclosing freebies and invites to review. Guys, we’ve been through this before with blogging. You will be found out. Just be honest. It’s not hard to be honest. Also, if you are a restaurant or a PR, you should require your invites to disclose.

Flaws in My Methodology

Social media data changes frequently, so please consider this all a snapshot and not gospel truth. For example, in rerunning this data in 2018, I am SHOCKED by how many London food bloggers have disappeared completely in just three years — like their websites don’t even exist anymore. Or maybe I’m not shocked. I’ve been at this since 2004 (!!!) and it’s not easy to keep up the momentum and energy.

Other flaws in my methodology…to calculate London food blog “Reach,” I just added together Twitter + Facebook + Instagram. Obviously, there is usually overlap between the three platforms. (For example, I follow the London restaurant blogger Chris Pople via all his platforms.) I don’t have the magic social media tools to determine the actual unique intersection, so we’ll have to make do with this sum for now. (Although I am open to suggestions on how to get some sort of figure on total unique followers.)

Big flaw…there’s been some talk about some London food bloggers purchasing followers. So please don’t take these figures at face value, and remember that if you are building an invite list,  a smaller London restaurant blogger might actually deliver more value than a (seemingly) larger London restaurant blogger. (Micro influencers are the future!) You should also check out engagement numbers. If someone has 100,000 followers on Twitter or Instagram but very few likes on any of their tweets or pics, there’s something wrong.

Are You a London Food Blogger?

Sad that you didn’t make my list of London restaurant bloggers? Don’t be sad. Like I said, this was highly unscientific. If you blog about restaurants in London, I’m happy to add you. Just comment below and I will do some reconnaissance and add more rows to my table.

Lastly, you might find these other blog posts of mine helpful:

• My 10 Favorite Restaurants in London
• How to Save Money on Restaurants in London