Last year, Hardens' press release said Sweary's influence was stifling the restaurant scene. This year, using a nearly identical list, we're told that the empire is crumbling because Walnuts is spending too much time on TV. Hypocrisy aside, you really have to admire the Harden's publicist for bashing up a story out of such unpromising material. I'd note that RHR continues to be voted the "top gastronomic experience", which is surely the only category that counts for the city's main food-as-themepark venue. ... In summary: tabloid hyperbole with a dash of tall poppy syndrome, applied for the selling of guidebooks. ← Just for the record, the big point that was entirely new in this year's survey was the RHR was not 'out on its own' any more, like it has been for the past umpteen years. When you've built a whole empire on running the best retaurant in London bar none, that's kinda important. As to the "top gastronomic experience" list, it's a very crude measure of success, which tends to reward big names. (Only big names, however good/bad they are will ever accumulate enough votes to get on such a list.) The real survey evaluation is much more detailed, and includes, for example, comparison of number of votes in 'good' lists (such as "top gastro") and 'bad' lists (such as "most overpriced"). It's all explained at the front of the guide. And as to the reversal of the 'stifling' theme of the previous year, well, that's precisely what the survey showed: as noted in the press release, most of Gordon's major restaurants just inspired less interest from reporters this year, and the previous 'stifling' trend had gone into reverse. It can happen. A year is a long time in the restaurant business.