Kingston is res-erected after Time Out cock-up

7:27am Tuesday 22nd January 2008

Comments (10)   Have your say »

After ignoring Kingston in 2006 and then branding the borough a flaccid penis last year, Time Out magazine has agreed to include the borough in its new guide.

There was outrage when the Royal borough was snubbed in the 2006 edition of the guide, and the situation only got worse when Time Out ran an insubstantial 10-point guide to the area in June of last year.

“We took notice of the attention this raised in the local press. We always try to act on our readers’ comments, so I can confirm that Kingston will be included in the new guide.”

Emma Howarth

The piece offered an unsavoury explanation as to why Kingston had been left out, stating: "Time Out did a Bobbitt and cut the flaccid penis that is the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames off the map of the capital."

But it seems the guide's publishers have done a u-turn, finally taking note of the protests to be included.

Emma Howarth, editor of the new guide, said: "We took notice of the attention this raised in the local press. We always try to act on our readers' comments, so I can confirm that Kingston will be included in the new guide."

Asked whether the Time Out Group would like to retract their "flaccid penis" comments, Ms Howarth said: "I wasn't the editor at the time and so I can't take that comment back, but I would say that the new chapter on Kingston is very thorough and should lay that to rest."

The unsavoury description prompted much analysis, even extending to an inkblot-style diagram of the borough, allowing residents to ponder the anatomical parrallels of the shape of the local map.

Kingstonians will be pleased to hear that the chapter was placed in the safe hands of local writer Chris Moss, who first tipped us off on the addition. He said: "Just for the record, this year's London for Londoners guide will contain Kingston borough. I wrote the chapter and am a Surbiton resident."

London for Londoners is aimed at residents of the capital, offering a borough-by-borough breakdown of leisure, property, local authority services and full colour maps for each area.

The new edition will be available to buy in May this year.