Brian Dillon
Brian Dillon focuses on practical, crowd-sourced advice that makes everyday food, travel and lifestyle decisions easier, often distilling expert voices into one clear takeaway. He writes as an Audience Writer for the Daily Express, covering food, travel, entertainment and lifestyle with a strong emphasis on accessible tips and straightforward recommendations.
Food tips built around expert consensus
Dillon’s food coverage centres on simple ways to improve familiar dishes, relying heavily on chefs and experts and then drawing out the one change that matters most. In a piece asking 13 chefs how to make steak taste better, he collates their input and highlights a single tip that readers can apply immediately, reflecting his preference for focused, actionable guidance rather than broad theory. His food writing favours clear, step-by-step advice and emphasises how small tweaks can deliver better flavour, mirroring the practical tone of his wider lifestyle work.
Travel features that spotlight underrated experiences
Alongside food, Dillon reports on travel for the Daily Express, with a particular interest in places and experiences that are overlooked rather than obvious bucket-list stops. In one feature he describes visiting an underrated European capital just two hours from the UK, characterising it as “criminally overlooked” despite its scenery and breadth of things to do. In another he writes about a 2,000-year-old UK site, explaining how a single initiative transformed it into one of the country’s most exciting summer destinations. Across these pieces he combines first-person impressions with service details, showing readers what makes a site or city special while pointing out the specific elements—events, atmospheres, or attractions—that change the experience.
Lifestyle, gardening and entertainment with clear takeaways
Dillon’s lifestyle coverage spans gardening, museums and books, but he approaches each subject with the same focus on one or two practical conclusions. In a gardening article he explains how planting one particular companion near roses can help them grow stronger, healthier and more colourful, stressing that the plant is both beneficial and edible and that the change in planting strategy is straightforward to implement. His reporting on cultural venues, such as museum late openings at historic sites, highlights what these events add—music, atmosphere and new ways of seeing familiar spaces—rather than simply listing programming. In entertainment, he reviews and recommends popular fiction, including a must-read thriller soon to be adapted by Netflix, concentrating on pace, plot and the reasons it grips readers. The common thread is a preference for concise, practical guidance: what to plant, where to go, what to read, and why it matters to the general reader.
Audience-focused background in news and features
Dillon works as an Audience Writer at the Daily Express, a role that aligns with his consistent emphasis on reader-friendly angles, clear language and service-led topics. Before joining the masthead he wrote for outlets including Dublin Live and Irish Star US, experience that reflects a grounding in popular news and feature formats aimed at broad audiences. Across food, travel, entertainment and lifestyle, his work is marked by direct, unadorned prose and a tendency to organise stories around one main idea or tip, making his pieces easy to scan and simple to act on.
4 more food journalists.
Adam Maidment
Adam Maidment is a senior What's On and LGBTQ+ reporter whose food and leisure coverage is built around immersive, first-person reporting and concrete detail. He works at the Manchester Evening News, focusing on new restaurant and bar openings, regular food reviews, gig and event coverage, and issues affecting LGBTQ+ people. He treats restaurants, pubs, bars and experiences as stories about place, people and community, explaining what makes a venue different and how it fits into the local dining scene. His pieces cover pricing, service, atmosphere, crowds and concept, and he is willing to be critical when gimmicks undermine the experience. He writes character-led pub profiles, works shifts, joins treasure hunts and attends major cultural events, inviting readers to follow what he does and use his straightforward assessments to decide where to eat, drink and spend time.
Alice Lorenzato-Lloyd
Alice Lorenzato-Lloyd is editor at Secret Manchester, where she treats food as part of how people live in the city, not as an isolated subject. She covers restaurants, bars, street food and casual dining, linking new openings and food trends to neighbourhood change, local businesses and everyday routines. Her pieces focus on accessible spots, comfort dishes like pizza and tacos, and clear details of menus, presentation, atmosphere and practical information such as opening hours and booking. She often combines food, drink and live events, producing guides to venues for major sports tournaments and themed pop-ups as part of wider things to do. Alice also reports on hospitality business pressures, city-centre public spaces, charity initiatives, transport and infrastructure, always showing how food and drink fit into community and lifestyle stories. She previously wrote for other regional “Secret” sites as a staff writer and describes herself as a writer and food fanatic.
Aly Walansky
Aly Walansky specializes in service-driven food coverage that treats cocktails and dining as tools for celebration, focusing on how logistics, ordering options, and menu choices turn everyday meals and major holidays into shared experiences. She is a longtime food and travel journalist now writing for Forbes, where her beat centers on cocktails and occasion-driven dining. Her work includes practical, expert-driven roundups such as guides to many variations on the classic martini, shipped-meals gift lists for Mother’s Day, and accessible formats for Thanksgiving and other holidays. She reports through structured lists, restaurant features, and menu-focused profiles that highlight signature dishes and dining trends. Across outlets, she extends this approach to home cooking, grocery shopping, and recipes, and runs a newsletter that shares her current assignments and industry commentary.
Ben Hurst
Ben Hurst joins food, entertainment and cost-of-living angles, treating cooking, groceries and celebrity stories as everyday decisions for readers. He is Head of Lifestyle and Money at WalesOnline, shaping practical, trending coverage that is tightly written, headline-led and easy to scan and share. His food reporting leans on TV chefs and supermarket behaviour, turning their advice and product changes into clear tips and consumer explainers focused on value for money and household budgets. He also writes extensively about TV and celebrity figures, using recognisable names to carry stories about health, family challenges, cancer treatment and resilience. Alongside these, he produces visual, nostalgia-driven galleries and concise explainers on wide-interest phenomena, drawing on a senior newsroom background that includes executive editor, video lead and news editor roles.