London Giant Cheese Board Festival Twitter Complaints

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'Tis the season for eating, drinking and making merry with friends, so The Giant Cheese Board should have been a perfect festive treat. Promising "unlimited cheese, mulled wine & fun," this pungent-sounding food festival was announced in October and sounded pretty magical. Organisers said there was going to be a "massive, oversized cheese board" - "one you can walk around on as if you're in a giant's kitchen." Event staff dressed as "giant mice" would be on hand to help lead the way. And dessert, naturally, would be cheesecake.

But when the festival began at south London's Studio 338 venue yesterday, cheese devotees who'd paid at least £30 per ticket were by all accounts pretty disappointed. Many took to Twitter and Facebook to complain about the event, saying there was no "massive, oversized cheese board" after all. They also alleged that there were long queues for the food and drink on offer: cold mulled wine, cheese that reportedly arrived in a Sainsbury's van, and a glaring lack of cheesecake.

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In fact, so many disgruntled customers have tweeted about the event that a #GiantCheeseboard hashtag has been trending today, and it doesn't make for happy reading.

£37 and didn't even get any cheese! Disgusting. The Sainsbury's delivery even arrived after the event started! They haven't apologised and have deleted all the bad reviews on FB! #GiantCheeseboard @TimeOutLondon @MetroUK @studio338 @JacobsSnacks @sainsburys
— Sarah Hennessy (@Henster79) December 16, 2017

.@studio338 organised #thegiantcheeseboard WORST EVENT EVER. Shop bought cheese, overcrowded, staff who lied when requesting a refund. Security admitted they’ve done it before. NEVER use this venue or go to their events. Eurgh. @MailOnline would have a field day.
— Mark Byrne (@markyb_88) December 16, 2017

Surprised and disappointed to find no cheese at the #GiantCheeseboard only 1.5 hours after opening. Oversold and underprepared. And you’ve deleted my Facebook review. I am looking for a full refund.
— Jessica Walker (@Jeeskababy) December 16, 2017

The people struggle for the last scraps of Camembert. The suffering has gone on too long. pic.twitter.com/Qtyd7CBodE
— Tom Capon (@TomCapon) December 16, 2017

Last night’s ? fiasco. The marketing: ‘The Giant Cheese Board’, “a massive, oversized cheese board. One you can walk around on as if you're in a giants kitchen”- the best artisan cheeses from across Europe, including a huge baked Camembert, unlimited mulled wine, cheesecake and double-size fireplaces. The reality: plates of chopped up British cheeses, mostly hard, some caterers packs of chutney, no Camembert (baked or not), queues for cold and very sweet ‘low alcohol’ mulled wine, no cheesecake, and a screen projecting the image of a fire. Hmm. #ripoff #falseadvertising #cheese #giantcheeseboard

A post shared by Lardy Ladies blog (@evajgeorge) on Dec 17, 2017 at 12:43am PST

Cannot overstate how bleak this is pic.twitter.com/9j9uaDS7sD
— Kate Solomon (@katiesol) December 16, 2017

Still, at least one person has managed to see the funny side, and sent up the event's poor reception with some deliciously cheesy puns.

I can’t brielieve how awful #GiantCheeseboard was.I’m stilton fuming. I’ve mulled this over and theres good reason to wine about it. I thought it would be much feta, I expect a briefund #justiceforcheese @mailonline @standardnews @MetroUK @LondonTown @JacobsSnacks @TimeOutLondon
— IAmMadden (@IAmMadden) December 16, 2017

Refinery29 has contacted the organisers of The Giant Cheese Board to ask for a response to the customer complaints. We'll update this story when we hear back.

The festival has continued at the same venue today and Facebook comments suggest it's running a little more smoothly. "It is better than yesterday sounds," one customer wrote, "but not great and not worth £37.50. Really Long queues for everything, the unlimited (cold) mulled stuff is ticketed and they give you stick if you don’t have a ticket. Only 5 types of cheese with no way of picking it up, same with grapes and olives - have to use your hands really. Struggled for seats. It’s good but not worth the price and not what was expected."