Barley Mow Slur Ends in Back-Handed Apology and a Lunch Date

Toby Young has been at it again. Not content with placing Chiswick a a poor third in the “tripartite hierarchy” after Notting Hill and Shepherds Bush, he continues his excellent demonstration on how to lose friends and alienate people by failing to do his research properly.

In his review of Chiswick’s Carluccio’s published in The Evening Standard he writes “From a location point of view, the Chiswick branch of Carluccio's isn't ideal. As a rule of thumb, the value of real estate in the area is dictated by how close it is to Turnham Green Terrace and how far it is from the A4 - and Carluccio's is marginally closer to the latter. Indeed, it's situated opposite the Barley Mow which, according to the local constabulary, is one of the few 'problem pubs' in the area.”

Understandly, The Barley Mow’s Johnny and Charlie were not at all pleased and wrote to Mr Young to tell him so driving home their point by highlighting their most recent review which appeared ChiswickW4.com.

They wrote “We were fortunate enough to be given the pub, brand new, after a fabulous refurbishment but not however, after a name change. In the past The Barley Mow was not a name synonymous with good food, clientele or atmosphere. We have had an uphill battle to change people’s perception of our pub and very little money or backing to do it.

“So you can see it was with huge disappointment that we had to read your shocking and unwarranted reference to us, during his review of Carluccios. Our local licensing officer is looking into the reference made to his ‘constabulary’ as they have never been called out to the pub since we have taken over, nor had any need to maintain any kind of police presence.”

Toby Young’s back-handed apology arrived promptly explaining that “My source for claiming that the Barley Mow is a "problem pub" was another restaurateur in the area who had been told this by a local policeman. This was less than a year ago, I'm afraid, so it may be that you haven't yet been there long enough to alter its reputation. However, I'm sure that with your continued hard work that day will come. I'll pop in for lunch one day soon to check it out for myself.”

With any luck, he’ll spend less of his time playing “make-believe that I'm an investment banker or, indeed, a restaurateur” and more on producing an accurate description of his surroundings.

March 2, 2007