Outrage from locals over jokey Tab article saying why Plymouth sucks

A light hearted article joking about why Plymouth is an embarrassing hometown has sparked outrage among Janners.

Pissed-off Plymouthians vented anger when local paper The Plymouth Herald reprinted a poorly spelt version of The Tab article.

The satirical piece highlights the negatives of living in Plymouth based on the views of a Liverpool student who grew up there.

In the piece she stresses that despite its foibles, she still loves it: “Plymouth is pretty shit, but it’s home and unless you understand that Plymouth is the right kind of grim, you won’t get it.

“The locals are lurvely and if you learn to not take yourself too seriously, you’ll lurve Plymouth too.”

Well, that escalated quickly…

The Herald at first selectively quoted the piece, distorting it and exaggerating statements. This also happened in the Express and Echo.

They have now both been edited accordingly.

The Herald’s Facebook post (which has now been deleted) asked locals whether they were ashamed to be from Plymouth.

The author, Cristina Criddle, has been berated for the tongue-in-cheek piece, with one comment reading: “What an utter sloppy cunt.

“So one she’s a liar saying she’s from Exeter. Two, she claims to come from Exeter which is a pubescent shit hole. Three, finally she now lives in Liverpool.

“Great job pretty sure Liverpool is just one giant council estate full of job centre wankstains.”

What isn’t there to come back for?

Another read: “Hi Cristina, please don’t come home, ever. Many Thanks The citizens of Plymouth.”

One commenter took it a step further, saying: “Talk about pseudo-middle class uneducated Nazism.

“Replace the word ‘pikeys’ with the word ‘jews’ or ‘negroes’ and see how comfortable you find that sentence…”

She was also messaged on Facebook saying: “Scabby little rat dont ever come back to Plymouth.”

When Cristina explained it was a humorous opinion piece they then replied: “yeah xxx”

There were over 100 comments on the Facebook thread and over 40 people tried to add Cristina on Facebook, presumably because of the article.

Newsflash: Plymouth can be enjoyed

Cristina Criddle told The Tab: “I did the article for a laugh and never realised it would get blown so far out of proportion.

“I love Plymouth, but most people will admit it’s grim, it’s part of the charm.

“In the end of the article I said people would love Plymouth if they didn’t take themselves too seriously.

“I didn’t like the hypocrisy in complaining about factors in my article but then saying exactly the same points about Liverpool. Every city has bad and good bits, I just focused on the negatives in this piece.

“I have so much to thank Plymouth for, but I was upset by how quick people were to harass me and believe a skewed and badly written news story on the piece.

“I didn’t mean to cause any offence.”