Top London hotel confirms grouse is still on the menu

The Ritz refutes campaign group’s claim that its restaurant had dropped the gamebird as shooting enthusiasts challenge Sunday newspaper story

Grouse is being offered on multiple menus at The Ritz London, despite claims in The Observer that the hotel had dropped it.

The claim that the top hotel had abandoned grouse originated with anti-shooting campaign group Wild Moors, which claimed online that grouse had been dropped from the famous hotel’s menu.

Wild Moors has a longstanding record for spreading claims around grouse shooting and within a few hours of it being circulated the story had already been widely debunked. Key to proving it was wrong was a recording of a telephone call in which the caller received confirmation from the hotel that it was simply waiting for the first birds of the season to arrive.

This did not stop it being welcomed by Green Party peer Natalie Bennett, who spread the story via Twitter, claiming it was “#goodnews”. The Observer chose to report the Wild Moors assertions under the headline “Game over — The Ritz takes grouse off the menu in victory for environment campaigners”. The newspaper apparently contacted The Ritz and chose to run the story when it did not receive a formal denial.

Despite serious questions over the story’s veracity, Baroness Bennett doubled down on her praise, saying:

“Driven grouse shooting so clearly on the way out — we can end the year-round slaughter on the uplands.”

However, the shooting community was vigorously at work fact-checking the claims. Enterprising shooting fans dug through the hotel’s current menus and rapidly found that the weekday à la carte menu featured Yorkshire grouse, blackberry and walnut. Others scoured The Ritz’s social media feeds and spotted an Instagram post, with a picture of a grouse breast, announcing: “Today it is the Glorious 12th, the first day of the grouse shooting season. Each year our executive chef, John Williams MBE, creates a seasonal dish showcasing British grouse at its very best.”

With the hotel’s press team stonewalling all enquiries, individual shooting enthusiasts emailed the restaurant managers to check on the situation and were assured that grouse was definitely on the menu.

Final confirmation came from Ritz communications director Jackie Mcdevitt, who said: “Yorkshire grouse is on the menu in The Ritz restaurant and has been since 12 August.”

Wild Moors has deleted its claim, although at time of going to press The Observer had not made any changes to its story.

Matt Cross

“They were assured that grouse was definitely on the menu”

Yorkshire grouse with blackberry and walnut features on The Ritz menu

The Ritz in London is serving grouse, despite claims it had been dropped