It was billed as a “fromage-themed extravaganza” but a cheese festival at London’s historic Borough Market left a bad taste in the mouth of many foodies who complained of dangerous overcrowding.

More than 18,000 people on Facebook indicated they were going to the free event which took place on Wednesday night and some visitors said the large numbers who turned up, coupled with a lack of organisation, rendered it a disaster.

To compound the chaos, vegan protesters also showed up, with some visitors saying the demonstrators hurled insults at them.

Andy Green, who had come from Kent for the event, was one of those who registered his disappointment on the Evening of Cheese official Facebook page.

“What a terrible shame you could not organise this properly, it was just an evening of squeeze!” he wrote. “Dangerously overcrowded and not much fun at all, we have never been so relieved to be back on the train to Folkestone! Glad we saved the night with a nice walk along the South Bank, the only thing that made the afternoon off work and the cost of the train fare worthwhile. Poor show Borough Market.”

want free cheese? come to borough market and knock people out for it. pic.twitter.com/CQe3yOPb0k — Aimee Louise Forbes (@aimeesucksx) December 14, 2016

The event, which has been running for 10 years, featured a demonstration by a Michelin starred chef from Italy and was billed as an opportunity to chat to cheese experts and sample and buy different varieties. But many claimed that the overcrowding was so severe that they did not even get to see a piece of cheese.

Kelly Fox wrote: “Couldn’t get a look in at any of the stalls. At one point we were just stuck in the middle of everyone and no one was moving. I got elbowed in the boob & backpacked in the face! Gave up in the end and went to Regent Street to look at the Christmas lights. Was looking forward to this all month. Disappointing.”

David Wallace was similarly indignant. “Gave up on this before we even saw any cheese, never mind tasted it,” he wrote. “Utter, utter shambles. Ridiculously overcrowded, poorly organised and, frankly, a public relations disaster for Borough Market.”



Arrived at Borough Market for #aneveningofcheese Can't get in. Who knew cheese was so popular. pic.twitter.com/iQW79Pdodz — Alex Zivanovic (@aziv) December 14, 2016

Some suggested making the event ticketed in future to avoid a repeat of Thursday’s scenes.

Just a bunch of earthlings educating the public about the cruelty of dairy at a large cheese tasting event 🌚 from infuriated dairy farmers to drunk people and wannabe vegans it was definitely intense.. We had a great turnout and we surely affected a lot of people 🌱🤘🏻 A video posted by @humanelyhuman on Dec 14, 2016 at 2:40pm PST

Others felt that those complaining had lost their sense of perspective.

Amalia Di Prosecco wrote: “I’m sorry – we are still talking about a free cheese night and not the war in South Sudan, the famine in Yemen or the well-documented Syrian invasion aren’t we?

“I popped in tonight. And yes there were queues. The queues didn’t put me off – it was what was fucking in them that did.”

Borough Market managing director, Darren Henaghan, said: “Whilst it went off without incident, we were saddened to hear that a small minority of visitors were disappointed with the Evening of Cheese.

“For the last 10 years we have opened this historic and unique market at Christmas for this special event, and this year saw unprecedented numbers attend, making the market much busier than usual.

“Clearly there are some lessons to be learnt due to the event’s popularity and we’ll be taking feedback into account for next year.”