Residents of the north Yorkshire seaside resort of Scarborough have hit back after vitriolic columnist Victor Lewis-Smith attacked their town.

In one of his regular columns for the London Evening Standard, Mr Lewis-Smith condemned Scarborough as being “dismal in season and even worse out.”

He said Scarborough was his least favourite town and described it as a “God-forsaken place”.

He added: “The locals even had a saying: ‘Jesus wasn’t born in Scarborough because God couldn’t find three wise men or a virgin’.”

His comments came as he reviewed the television programme Borrow a Baby, which was filmed in Scarborough and screened last week.

Celebrities such as Jimmy Savile and Scarborough’s IBF world featherweight boxing champion Paul Ingle spoke to the Scarborough Evening News about why they love the town.

Evening News editor David Penman told HoldtheFrontPage: “It was a bit of fun really but we are fiercely defensive about our town.

“Scarborough is a beautiful place. We have our problems like anywhere else but it has a beautiful natural setting.”

Scarborough MP Lawrie Quinn told the paper that he plans to write to Mr Lewis-Smith and his editor and invite them to a meeting with him and the Mayor of Scarborough, Councillor Dorothy Clegg in London next week so he can put the record straight.

He said: “His article was called A Night of Reckless Piffle, but it reads to me more like reckless drivel.

“If he refuses the invitation or doesn’t want to come then everyone in Scarborough will make their own judgement.”

Mr Lewis-Smith presents Channel 4 archive programme TV Offal.

He is a regular columnist for The Mirror, as well as a reviewer for the London Evening Standard.

Do you have a story for us?
Ring the HoldTheFrontPage newsdesk on
01332 291111 x6022, or to e-mail us now – click here