18 APRIL 1952, Page 18

Guides to Britain

SIR,—Janus will find that the A.A. greet with lack of appreciation suggeitions that their handbook would be improved if recast on the lines of the Michelin Guide. I was informed by the secretary that they did not set out to compile a connoisseur's guide: 1 replied that it had never struck me that they did. There used to be a Michelin Guide for Great Britain: to the best of my knowledge it stopped in 1925. I still use it for its maps and data. I suppose it was discontinued owing to the utter irreconcilable difference in the standards, even then, between the hotels of France and England, particularly in service and food. The main achievement of the A.A. Handbook has been to accumulate a comprehensive list of places where not to eat in England.—Yours