Stirred by the Daily Express

During my regular daily browse of the Scottish Daily Express I was intrigued to read an item today regarding a visit to Claridge's in London by wealthy socialite and journalist Taki Theodoracopulous and his friends the Marquess of Worcester, Lord John Somerset, plus wives and a friend. Taki, using his latest Spectator magazine High Life column is claiming that he and his friends were ejected from Claridge's and is now calling on a boycott of the establishment. As a reasoning for his outrage he is suggesting that the staff were obviously hoping for "Gulf visitors" bringing their money with them, hence the reason for them wishing to keep the then empty seats available for others. He further suggests that there was a bias against his party because they were white and speaking English !!!!

Although tired and weary after a long day at work I am moved to respond to the item which I thought was totally unfair. Not wishing to diminishing his held beliefs and observations.

My observations as as follows I recently , along with my wife, speaking with a "Scottish accent", and my brother and sister in law being white and English, and certainly none of us who could be claimed as wealthy, found that we had no problem, on two occasions, in gaining admission into this excellent establishment. We found the staff to be extremely sociable, helpful, and enjoyed both visits, where we had both drinks and sampled the wonderful cuisine. From our observations there was a visible cross section of society both dining and drinking and all appreciating the ambiance. ( Hence my previous blog relating the the last visit on 11th June). The decor of the building is to be admired and the history in photographs of past visitors make good viewing.

We will certainly be returning there at some time in the future when back in London and if the budget will stretch that far.

I am somewhat at a loss as to what Mr Theodoracopulos hopes to achieve by these allegation as I am sure that these highly trained staff would not have asked him to leave without proper justification, but I am sure that Claridge's will carry out a thorough investigation into this alleged incident. He and his friends are free to visit the Mercat Bar, Haymarket, Edinburgh, or the Dolphin Inn, Whitecraig, Musselburgh, and sample our fine cuisine at any time provided they, like every other customer behave in a proper manner whilst on the premises.

I am sorry that this gentleman and his friends found himself in this unfortunate situation, but from the way were received on the premises by the staff and other clients I would certainly not be calling on such a boycott.

He. like many others, perhaps should take heed of that saying by our Scottish Bard, Robert Burns " o' er the gift to gie us , to see ourselves as ithers see us"