Food critic returns to face the music (From Tewkesbury Admag)

Food critic returns to face the music

SUNDAY Times' food critic AA Gill - who recently caused an outcry in the north Cotswolds when he dubbed Stow as "the worst place in the world" - is braving the wrath of local people to speak at a dinner in the area later this year.

Mr Gill, whose criticisms of Stow were made in his book, The Angry Island, is guest speaker at one of the regular speaking engagements run by the Cotswold House Hotel in Chipping Campden.

But when Mr Gill - who said of Stow: "It thinks it's a little smug Hobnob stuck in a tin of dog biscuits" - stands up to speak at the £45-a-head bash, he may find himself in for a rough ride from disgruntled locals.

Hotel owner Ian Taylor said: "I think people will ask some questions and he could be given some very direct questions."

Stow mayor Alan Rose was reported in the Journal last week saying that he was quite happy with the publicity Mr Gill's scathing remarks had brought the town.

"Initially I was horrified but as time has gone by I have become less so.

"Nobody likes bad things said about you or your town but whatever way you look at it, it has been fantastic publicity. The question is who has benefited the most - is it Stow or Mr Gill's book?"

Mr Gill is likely to be speaking at the hotel in July, though a date has yet to be confirmed. Other speakers in the dinner or lunchtime lecture series include TV newsmen John Simpson on February 16 and Edward Stourton on March 8, thriller writer Donna Leon on April 5, Atlantic rower and TV presenter Ben Fogle on May 2, novelist Robert Goddard on May 11, actress Anna Massey on May 25, former Metropolitan Police chief Sir John Stevens on June 1 and TV reporter Fergal Keane on June 9.

Each event includes a three-course meal with wine.

Further information is available from the Cotswold House Hotel on 01386 840330.