Hotel proudly proclaims Winston Churchill's displeasure with its service

Alice spent the weekend in a Scottish hotel that Winston Churchill was a regular guest at -- even though he seems to have hated it, as is demonstrated by this sign in the lobby.

... and he hated it. by Crys

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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eriphi

I would second what annoyingmouse has said. As a resident of Dundee, I wish I could remember more of the history of Churchill and this place, but I do know it wasn’t just the hotel he was not a fan of! After being voted out of the constituency (which he thought of as a safe parliamentary seat) he was was scathing about Dundee and its people. There was very little manufacturing in this area during the Second World War, probably because of the hate-hate relationship between the politican and population of the city. Or perhaps it was because of the risk of maggots.

I would also like to point out that I have been to the Queen’s hotel for lunch many times and never met a maggot, at least not one that barred its teeth. And I like pancakes for lunch.
pidg

Dundee continues to be affectionately known as Scumdee to those of us lucky enough to live elsewhere in Scotland.

:)
Anonymous

I didn’t know maggots even HAD teeth… Must be special Scottish maggots.
humanresource

My first thought: Why the hell would anyone return to a place that had served them maggots?

My second thought: I bet the bar had some exceptionally good malts.
nanuq

Are maggots still on the menu?
Jonathan Badger

Maggots with teeth? Scotland is a strange, frightening place indeed.
annoyingmouse

Churchill’s relationship with Dundee was always an odd one. One must remember that he eventually lost his seat there to the only Prohibitionist ever to be elected in Scotland. Yes. A prohibitionist here in Scotland!!! (I’m a Scot and I’m still confused about that one.) Certainly in 1909 there was some resentment towards the man who many in Dundee saw as a carpetbagger opportunist. A maggot in his kipper might actually have been something to be proud of!

The best Churchill in Dundee story to my mind though is the one of his relationship with David Coupar Thompson of DC Thompson publishers (known for newspapers The Courier and The Sunday Post but famous nationally for The Beano, The Dandy and many other important comic moments in the childhood of the average British subject). They didn’t get on and Thompson on many occasions campaigned against Churchill, being possibly influential in his eventual defeat. The funny bit, however, is that legend has it that Thompson banned the name Churchill from ever appearing in his papers to the extent that supposedly even during the Second World War he was referred to solely as “The Prime Minister”. How true this is I don’t know and unfortunately I suspect research would spoil this for me.

You can tell it’s a slow Sunday when I’ve got the time to do a short (albeit possibly ill-informed) history lesson on Churchill’s early days.
Xenu

Winston Churchill had a laser printer? The guy was really ahead of his time, wasn’t he?
PaulR

I spent a few months in Scotland about thirty years ago. On the whole, the food was pretty good, the tea was first rate EVERYWHERE, and the beer and whiskey? – no complaints.

Haggis ‘n chips became a staple for me – but “sot’n'soss” and deep fried Mars bars hadn’t been invented yet.
See here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1kLLIEWp-4
or here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4Jd3-MGYMw

There were only a few awful meals, no worse than anywhere else. (I eat out all the time, because of my job, so I know from what I speak.)
W. James Au

We shall fight the teethy maggots in our kippers! We shall fight them in our homes! We shall never surrender!
Anonymous

that’s because this is a joke- in the vein of “there’s a fly in my soup” “quiet, or everyone else will want one too!”

in the morning he found a maggot in his breakfast, but when he wanted something “nourishing” at lunch, there were only pancakes. as in “where are the maggots now?”