Food critic who replaced AA Gill slated for scathing review of Wetherspoon pub... but she revels in being called a snob

Slated: Marina O'Loughlin was unimpressed by the Wetherspoon pub in Ramsgate
JD Wetherspoon
Ella Wills30 October 2017

A Sunday Times restaurant critic who replaced the late AA Gill has been slated after she penned a scathing review of a Wetherspoon pub.

Marina O’Laughlin, who is in her third week as the newspaper’s restaurant critic, was branded "snooty and posh" for her review of the pub chain’s newest venue in Ramsgate, Kent.

Urging her readers not to order the food, the critic slated the “calorific” menu which sparked anger from loyal fans.

She harshly criticised the Wetherspoon pub for its culinary offerings and atmosphere. Before launching into her tirade against the pub food, she called the pub’s carpets “vomitous”, and said that the décor was “hastily erected”.

She advised: “Don’t, for God’s sake, order the food.”

No meal was spared in her review. The peas, she wrote, had a “haunting backnote of fag ash”, she called the pizza an “oily number” and said that the sausages were “superprocessed”.

But she seemed most offended by the avocado, writing: “I have never met an avocado you can squeeze and it simply bounces back, like sponge. How? How?”

She also criticised the menu for showing customers how many calories their food contains, calling it “calorific” and “a Project Fear of a menu”.

Ms O’Loughlin said that she is “no convert” to Wetherspoon and insisted that she would not have eaten there even if she was less well-off.

She wrote: “I’ve been skint, soul-destroyingly so. But even then, I wouldn’t have eaten here; I’d have crossed the road to Peter’s Fish Factory and the honesty of hot, salty chips made from, you know, fresh potatoes.”

Her comments shocked loyal fans of the British chain, leading to Twitter users labelling her a “snob”.

“Over privileged much? Back to your ivory tower,” wrote one annoyed reader.

“You’ve done the lovely Middle Class thing of looking down on something you’re too privileged to understand,” said another.

However, Ms O’Loughlin was undeterred by the comments, and responded in good spirits on Twitter saying that she had "made it".

She said: “Been called some magnificently vile sweary names on here today it seems. I applaud everyone's creativity!”

When queried about the review, a spokesman for JD Wetherspoon said, according to The Independent: "She is a reviewer and is entitled to say what she wants.”

Ms O'Loughlin was named as Gill's permanent replacement as the Sunday Times Restaurant critic in September. He died of cancer in December last year.

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