Salisbury Gluten Free Guide helps diners find safe food

Created for coeliacs and others living gluten free in and around Salisbury, the Salisbury Gluten Free Guide was launched in June by Tony Barfoot, who lives just outside the city and has coeliac disease.

The free, independent website now lists 75 venues across the area.

Tony Barfoot has launched the Salisbury Gluten Free Guide. (Image: Salisbury Gluten Free Guide)

These include city centre restaurants and cafés, pubs in surrounding villages and venues out to the New Forest edge.

Listings detail kitchen practices, such as the use of dedicated fryers and separate food preparation areas.

Tony said: "I built it because I was tired of ringing round kitchens asking about fryers every time we wanted to eat somewhere new.

"Every coeliac in Salisbury is doing that same phone call.

"Now the answers are written down in one place, and dated.

"It's free and it stays free.

"It's just a local guide, run by someone who needs it himself."

The guide provides verified information directly from each venue, along with the date it was last checked.

It also groups venues into themed lists, such as gluten-free pubs, Sunday roasts and fish and chips.

Salisbury Gluten Free Guide now includes 75 venues in the area. (Image: Salisbury Gluten Free Guide)

Tony has seen a positive response from businesses.

He said: "The venues that have engaged have genuinely surprised me.

"One chip shop wrote to me, unprompted, describing exactly how their fryer is emptied, degreased and refilled with fresh oil before their weekly gluten-free evening.

"Places like that deserve to be found."

Honest communication has been a key part of the guide’s success, with two venues proactively requesting removal.

One café said it could not guarantee gluten-free food and did not want to risk raising false expectations.

A village pub also asked to be removed, explaining that it was unable to keep its information reliably up to date.

Tony said: "What's surprised me most is the venues that asked to be left off the guide.

"A café because it won't make claims it can't stand behind, and a village pub because it didn't want to risk its information going stale and misleading a coeliac.

"That kind of honesty is worth more to us than any five-star review.

"It tells you the whole thing is working."

About one in 100 people in the UK have coeliac disease.

For them, gluten is not a lifestyle choice but a serious health concern.

The Salisbury Gluten Free Guide offers a practical, community-focused resource to make dining out safer and simpler.