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An artisan cheese festival descended into chaos last night.

The "fromage-themed extravaganza" took place on Wednesday at London's famous Borough Market, and hordes turned up, all eager to get a taste of free cheese.

More than 18,000 people said they were attending on Facebook, and it seems many of them actually went (unlike most events). It was too packed. People vented their annoyance at the festival, complaining of 'dangerous overcrowding'.

Only adding to the misery, others were frustrated at the appearance of a group of vegan protesters, who hurled insults in an anti- cheese demonstration while streaming videos of sad-looking cows.

'Elbowed in the boob'

Kelly Fox had a torrid time and even got hit in the face by a flailing backpack.

“Couldn’t get a look in at any of the stalls," she wrote.

"At one point we were just stuck in the middle of everyone and no one was moving.

"I got elbowed in the boob and 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 didn't even see any cheese.

“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.”

Andy Green travelled all the way from Kent to eat cheese and was very upset by the meltdown.

(Image: Getty)

He said on Facebook: “What a terrible shame you could not organise this properly, it was just an evening of squeeze!”

“Dangerously overcrowded and not much fun at all, we have never been so relieved to be back on the train to Folkestone!"

"We went to Nandos! Proper shambles!" said Hayley Meades.

Michael Bell chided: "Never had to battle for cheese before. Great to see such demand for great product, but utter chaos."

And, naturally, the cheese puns rolled in like a wheel of gorgonzola.

Alex Hawley said: "Sounds like it should have been planned a bit more Caerphilly."

Michaelle Utz wrote: "Well....I couldn't give an Edam!"

Georgia Georgallis joked: "It just wasn't Gouda enough..."

And Michael Thurston said: "I don't know what people are talking about, I had a grate time."

The cheese festival has been running for ten years. It's usually popular, but 2016 proved too much.

However, others proffered some 'perspective'.

Amalia Di Prosecco (we've asked if that's her real name) commented on Facebook: “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 f****** in them that did.”

Borough Market managing director, Darren Henaghan, said in a statement: “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.”