Pubs, restaurants, bars and cafs in Oxfordshire are being asked to take down plaques carrying Egon Ronay's name.

Mr Ronay, who is back in charge of his food guides after 12 years, has appealed to hundreds of establishments to remove the blue plaques, because he says they are no longer valid.

The gastronome, now in his seventies, says they were handed out by former owners of the guides, whom he claims failed to meet his high standards.

Pubs in the area featuring in the 1996 guide said today they were quite happy to take down their plaques.

Jason Fretwell, chef at The Bear and Ragged Staff in Cumnor, said their plaque has been taken down, in accordance with Mr Ronay's wishes.

He said: "The whole point is to be included in the guide on merit but the recommendations should be up to date.

"We have removed our plaque and we are happy that he is back in charge."

Roy Flynn, who runs The Bull at Charlbury, and his wife Suzanne, were named Host and Hostess of the Year by Egon Ronay last year.

He said: "We are also in the Michelin guide which is quite prestigious. If Mr Ronay wants to drop us a line about the plaque he can. "He obviously made some money when he sold the guides and wants to stamp his authority on the whole thing again."

Tim Newman, manager at The Falkland Arms, in Great Tew, said: "We're in the Michelin guide and I think Egon Ronay is a bit old hat. I'll happily take my plaque down and pop it in the post."

This is the latest wrangle since Mr Ronay won back the rights to his books last year after a legal battle with previous owners Leading Guides International.One of his first actions was to scrap the annual edition of the guide which was due out last Christmas, claiming little more than half the restaurants had been inspected properly.

Any restaurant which made it into the Egon Ronay Guide was allowed to display a blue plaque, but Mr Ronay says he now wants them taken down because they referred to inspections carried out in 1996. "They are out of date and do not reflect the true position," he said. "Now I have taken over the guide I want nothing to do with them."People will think I recommended them but I did not. It is in the public interest to have these plaques removed."He added: "I have no legal power to enforce this but I am pleading with them. It is misleading the public." Mr Ronay founded the guides in 1956 and sold them in 1985 to the Automobile Association, which in turn sold them to Leading Guides.

He took over control again last October following a High Court hearing when he forced the publishers of the guides to close down and regained the rights to his name.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.