Blackburn has been rated as having the second best offering for Italian dining in the whole of UK by a new study.
The research, by Italian eatery directory Real Italian Restaurants, looked at 54 towns and cities across the UK to pick out the best destinations, with Blackburn placing second.
It used a metric of combining the percentage of five-star reviews and overall restaurant ratings from diners on TripAdvisor to create an index score.
Pizza and pasta lovers have sung the praises of the town’s ristorantes with 71 per cent of reviews awarding five stars and an average rating of 4.41 out of five, giving the town an index score of 75.5.
Among the highest rated Italians in the town on TripAdvisor are Ego at The Knowles Arms in Pleckgate Road – which also won a Traveller’s Choice Award this year – and MyLahore, which, despite being predominantly a South Asian menu, also serves pasta dishes.
Only Chelmsford in Essex scored a higher rating at 78.1, thanks to 2.5 per cent more ratings being five-star and a marginally better average rating.
Other places in the top five were Sunderland, Southend-on-Sea, and Bradford, with Stockport, Southampton, Hove, York and Sheffield rounding out the top 10.
At the other end of the scale was Telford in Shropshire, which had just 39 per cent of reviews at five-star and an average rating of 3.68.
Orazio Salvini, founder of Real Italian Restaurants, said: “People often assume the best Italian food is found in the biggest cities, but that’s not always the case.
“What this data really shows is where diners are happiest with their Italian restaurants, and places like Chelmsford are clearly getting it right.
You can see a real difference between the top and bottom of the table.
“In the highest-ranked towns, a large majority of customers are leaving five-star reviews, while in lower-ranked areas, far fewer diners are having that same experience.
“At the end of the day, this is about real people sharing honest feedback on where they’ve enjoyed a great Italian meal.”
Delving further into TripAdvisor’s Italian listings in Blackburn, Tiggis Ribble Valley, which, as its name suggests, is not in Blackburn, is ranked third, along with Checco’s in Great Harwood, plus some venues that now appear to be closed, so maybe don’t read too much into this list!
Dining and Cooking