At Walking Food Tours UK, we talk a lot about great food, great drink, great independent venues and great guides.
But there is another ingredient that is just as important – and sometimes it is the one we can overlook.
Human connection.
Recently, we received a review following one of our Liverpool Wine Tours. On the surface, it was a review about wine, food, venues and a walking tour around the city.
But when you read between the lines, it was really a review about something much bigger.
It was about how an experience made someone feel.
You Can Never Assume What Someone Is Bringing With Them
Every guest who joins one of our tours arrives with their own story.
They might be celebrating a birthday, enjoying a weekend away, visiting a city for the first time, meeting up with friends – or simply looking for something different to do.
Sometimes, they may be carrying things with them that we know absolutely nothing about.
That is why we believe being a great guide isn’t simply about knowing your wine, food or local history.
It is about reading the room.
- Listening.
- Having a conversation.
- Making people feel comfortable.
- Knowing when to talk and when to listen.
- And, occasionally, simply being there.
Our recent Liverpool Wine Tour review reminded us of this in a particularly powerful way.
The guest had booked the experience while spending time in Liverpool and described having “HOURS of fun”, laughing more than they had in a long time and feeling totally at ease throughout the experience.
- There was wine, of course.
- There was food.
- There were four fantastic stops.
- There was plenty of walking around Liverpool.
- But perhaps most importantly, there was interaction and companionship.
- And that can be incredibly important.
A Tour Is Rarely Just About the Food and Drink
We could create a tour that simply took guests from one wine bar to another and told them a few facts along the way.
But that’s not what we’re trying to do.
Our tours are designed to introduce people to the people, stories, businesses, food and drink that make a place special.
And that means the guide is a huge part of the experience.
- A great guide can turn a good afternoon into a memorable one.
- They can introduce guests to a venue they would never have discovered themselves.
- They can explain why a particular wine is interesting.
- They can tell the story behind an independent business.
- They can point out something on the streets that most people walk past every day.
- And they can create an environment where strangers can quite quickly feel like old friends.
This Is Part of Our DNA
At Walking Food Tours UK, guest experience has always been at the heart of what we do.
We work hard to find the right independent venues, but choosing a venue isn’t simply about whether the food looks good on Instagram.
- We want great food and drink.
- We want welcoming teams.
- We want interesting stories.
- We want businesses that care about what they do.
- And we want our guides to bring all of that together.
- Because ultimately, our guests won’t remember every fact we tell them.
- They might not remember the name of every grape variety they tasted.
But they will remember how the experience made them feel.
- They’ll remember discovering somewhere they hadn’t been before.
- They’ll remember laughing.
- They’ll remember the conversation.
- They’ll remember the guide who made them feel welcome.
And hopefully, they’ll remember Liverpool – or Chester, Manchester, Shrewsbury or Wrexham – in a slightly different way.
The Unexpected Value of Experiences
This is one of the reasons we love what we do.
A walking food or wine tour might start life as something quite simple:
“Let’s book something to eat and drink while we’re in Liverpool.”
But it can become much more than that.
- It can be a chance to meet people.
- To explore somewhere differently.
- To discover independent businesses.
- To have conversations.
- To laugh.
- To switch off for a few hours.
And sometimes, perhaps, to have a few hours where whatever else is happening in life can be put to one side.
That’s the real value of experiences.
And it’s something we should never take for granted.
So yes, we’ll continue to obsess over the food, the wine, the venues, the routes and the stories.
But we’ll also continue to remind our guides that the most important part of every tour is the person standing in front of them.
Because at Walking Food Tours UK, great guest experiences aren’t an added extra.
They’re in our DNA.
Come hungry. Leave with a full stomach, a few new discoveries – and hopefully a smile.
Ready to experience it for yourself? Explore our walking food and drink tours across Liverpool, Chester, Manchester, Shrewsbury and Wrexham, and discover the people, places and flavours that make each destination special.
