With publicly available inspection data comes media reporting on dirty diners; and with poor media coverage comes threats, Andrew Gilligan at Greenwhich Online reports.

So there I was, standing in the Somerfield checkout queue, when the phone rings. “I’m gonna f*** you,” says a voice. Now, as it happens it’s not the first time I’ve had a threatening phone call, so I wasn’t all that bothered. “Who is this?” I said. “You’ve always had it in for me,” said the mystery caller. “You and your little blog, you c***. I’m gonna sue you.”

The cause of the latest food-fight was a column I did for greenwich.co.uk about three weeks ago, listing the local restaurants and takeaways which had failed the council’s hygiene awards inspection – meaning, in the council’s words, that they were “not up to standard” for cleanliness.
Among them were three of Frank [Dowling’s – mystery caller, restaurant owner] – the Coach and Horses in the Market (pictured right), plus Inc Brasserie and Union Square. I highlighted them as well-known places which charge quite fancy prices but which have all failed the hygiene test…

The phone call ended with Frank promising to sue and demanding the documentation for my story. I pointed out that the piece contained a link to the council’s food hygiene awards report, which is carried on its website.

I’ve only gotten profane emails, Doug deals with the profane calls.