Withnail star blasts ‘grim food’ in £228 quarantine hotel
ACTOR Richard E. Grant has said he feels ‘punished’ after being forced to quarantine for Covid in a hotel that charges more than £228 a night and serves ‘grim food’.
The Withnail And I star had been visiting his 90-year-old mother in southern Africa when the Government enforced new travel restrictions to fight the Omicron variant. He complained of ‘poor’ food at a Gatwick Holiday Inn.
Grant, 64, posted pictures on Twitter of a packaged tuna and cucumber sandwich, a sausage casserole and fish and chips, which he said would cost less than £30 to buy elsewhere. Speaking in a video posted online, Grant, who used to present the hotel review television series Richard E.
Grant’s Hotel Secrets, said: ‘I went to southern Africa to visit my 90-year-old mother and got caught by the red region Covid restrictions. I understand there are security costs in the hotel and you’ve got to pay for two Covid tests, but £228 a day to receive three meals of this very poor standard, in a supposed four-star Holiday Inn hotel, beggars belief.’ Grant said he was ‘confounded’ that a ‘non-quarantine Holiday Inn nearby costs £89 incl breakfast’ and asked: ‘How does Gov [ernment] justify this cost to a traveller for “hospitality”... feels punishing!’
A Government spokesman said: ‘The majority of passengers who have used the Managed Quarantine Service have been satisfied with the service.’