A regional daily’s restaurant critic who never missed a weekly review during 26 years in the job has hung up his knife, fork and pen.
Martin Dawes, of The Star, Sheffield, has retired after reviewing an estimated 1,400 eateries during his time with the Johnston Press-owned title.
Martin, now 68, was given the job of reviving The Star’s restaurant page by former editor Michael Corner who had liked the way he had written a homemade wine column.
During his tenure he was even taken to the Press Complaints Commission after giving one particular restaurant a bad review.
Said Martin: “When one restaurant complained about my review they asked if I could return, announced, so they could have pleasure throwing me out.
“When the editor declined they took The Star to the Press Complaints Commission in 2001, unsuccessfully arguing I was not a chef and therefore not qualified for the job.”
Martin, pictured above, who kept the job on for four years after retiring full time from the paper as its diary page editor, added: “I’ve loved the food, well some of it, and the people.
“There’s at least one story in every restaurant like the place I found which hadn’t had a customer for a week.
“I will still keep eating out, only now I have to pay for it.”
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I’m all for the good old days and mourn the loss of so much in this industry but – restaurant critics and diary editors? The past really is another country.
Happy dining Martin.
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Having read Martin’s column avidly, I can say his honesty and entertaining style will be sadly missed. And that’s from someone who thinks a Michelin starred restaurant is one next to a tyre-fitting depot!
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Do ‘hang up’ cutlery?
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Oops! That should be: do you ‘hang up’ cutlery? Or a pen for that matter.
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Come on Bob. It’s called a play on words. Like a footballer hangs up his boots when he retires. Get a grip man.
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