London bias

By Paul Fulford on Jul 27, 08 05:10 PM

I usually flick through Saturday and Sunday's posher newspapers and I'm always amazed how infrequently their restarant critics review anywhere outside London.

I've not collated the figures and done the sums, but I reckon well over 90 per cent of their reviews concern restaurants in the capital city.

Now I know that London has more restaurants than other towns and cities in the UK, but I suspect the vast majority are fairly ordinary places that wouldn't get reviewed were they located in, say, Bradford or Barnsley or Birmingham.

But, of course, the toffs who work for the London rags - and I refuse to accept they are truly national newspapers - can't be bothered to jump in their car or hop on a train to travel to places they would regard as frightfully common and unfashionable.

Shame on them because (a) they are letting down their readers who reside outside London and (b) they are missing the chance to eat at (and report on) some great places.

Still, it's probably just as well because when they do venture to Brum, they can't resist snide comments about our accents and glib references to baltis.

Ignorant, arrogant and shortsighted, the lot of 'em.