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Lawyer slammed over 'council estate dinner' post

Author
NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Thu, 18 Dec 2025, 8:53pm
Cheshire lawyer Sophie Murgatroyd (left) is being criticised for a "tone deaf" dinner party she dubbed as "council estate" themed. Photo / Sophie Murgatroyd
Cheshire lawyer Sophie Murgatroyd (left) is being criticised for a "tone deaf" dinner party she dubbed as "council estate" themed. Photo / Sophie Murgatroyd

Lawyer slammed over 'council estate dinner' post

Author
NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Thu, 18 Dec 2025, 8:53pm

A British lawyer is in hot water for throwing what she called a “council estate” themed dinner party and boastfully sharing the menu on social media.

Sophie Murgatroyd has been branded “tone deaf” by other LinkedIn users after she shared details of a recent get-together she hosted for friends, Metro reported.

“I love cooking for my friends... the theme of tonight’s meal was ‘council estate dinner’,” she said, listing chicken dippers, smiley faces, beans and turkey dinosaurs among the evening’s dishes.

Other items on the menu included Vienetta, ginger cake and bucks fizz, with Murgatroyd adding the hashtag “I need a rennie” in reference to the popular indigestion drug.

The post, now deleted, attracted scathing comments from other members of the site’s community while it was live.

Mental health assessor Rose-Marie Macintyre criticised the Cheshire-based lawyer for mocking and degrading an already marginalised group.

“Council estate meals sounds so demeaning to people living there. Some people who have mortgages can’t even afford those foods.”

LLM Law chief people officer Beverley Borkowski had similar reservations about the post, describing the “theme” as “tone deaf”.

Murgatroyd, 35, told Cheshire Life in 2018 she was deliberately seeking a home with room for horses, having grown up riding the animals on her parents’ Harrogate farm.

“Yes, the house could have been an absolute palace but if it didn’t have room for stables, then it just didn’t cut the mustard.

“I cannot live without horses and while my Cheshire friends are very kind and let me ride gorgeous horses... it will be fantastic to have horses living with me once again.”

On Roll On Friday, a local legal site, one commenter said: “Poshos mocking working class people who actually have to work for a living and not just being given a load of horses as a kid.”

But Murgatroyd doubled down on the post when questioned by the publication.

“Who knew what I had for dinner would be of such concern to everyone. Tonight, I am having sausage, mash, peas and a bucket of gravy.

“For me, where I grew up, or where my friends grew up is totally irrelevant. It’s about spending time with good people like we do most weeks.”

In an interview with the Daily Mail, she said she does not feel the dinner party was “insensitive” and claimed she deleted the post only because she couldn’t respond to all the comments.

“It doesn’t matter where I’m from or what food I eat. In the same way that I would have Mexican food last week and I’m not Mexican.

“If people want to shop at a farm shop, I don’t take offence because they didn’t grow up on a farm.”

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