Fray Bentos pies, turkey dinosaurs and smiley faces were the main courses for a privileged solicitor’s council estate dinner.’
Sophie Murgatroyd, 35, was branded ‘tone deaf’ and ‘insensitive’ after sharing what she cooked for her friends in a ‘council estate dinner’ themed gathering.
She lives near Knutsford which was named as ‘one of the classiest towns in Cheshire’, by The Sunday Times’s 2025 guide.
In a now-deleted LinkedIn post, Sophie shared that after a ‘classic prawn cocktail’ starter, she also served up crispy pancakes, chicken dippers, potato waffles, spam fritters and more.
These mains were then followed by Viennetta, spotted dick with custard and ginger cake.
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To wash it all down, the friends enjoyed some Sunny Delight and Buck’s Fizz in fancy glasses.
Sophie’s LinkedIn post was accompanied with a photo of the get-together and an invitation for comment with her asking: ‘Do you think we missed anything? A classic?’
She also included the hashtag ‘I need a Rennie’, suggesting that there might have been some heartburn or indigestion problems after the meal.
Sophie deleted the post after receiving backlash from followers, who branded the dinner’s theme as ‘derogatory’ and ‘very unkind.’
One LinkedIn user commented: ‘Pretty tasteless post – and I’m not talking about the food.’
Beverley Borkowski, chief people officer at a care homes group, also expressed her dislike of the theme and commented: ‘This is tone deaf. It’s 80’s tea-time classic at best, no need for the label.’
Mental health assessor Rose-Marie Macintyre wrote: ‘Council estate meals sounds so demeaning to people living there.
‘Some people who have mortgages can’t even afford those foods.’
Actuary Richard Shaw added: ‘I think you will find the food you describe is not unique to any one social demographic.
‘Rather insulting to those families who provide healthy meals for their children.’
In 2017, Sophie qualified as a solicitor, and now runs her own firm called Law by Sophie which claims to be ‘a different kind of law firm, specialising in all things litigation.’
Her upbringing appears to be rather different from the experiences of those living in council estates as she grew up on her parents’ farm near Harrogate, North Yorkshire.
She has a love for horses after she was gifted her first horse Twinkle, aged just three.
In 2018, Sophie told lifestyle magazine Cheshire Life that making sure there was room for her horses was a priority when house hunting.
Sophie denied that the post was offensive to the Daily Mail, saying: ‘I very much dispute that it is insensitive.’
She told the news outlet that her friends, who had grown up on a council estate, did not find the theme insensitive.
She said: ‘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.’
When asked by the Daily Mail why she deleted the post, she said she did not remove it because she thought it was insensitive but because she does not have the time to respond to everyone.
Metro has contacted Ms Murgatroyd for comment.
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