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A woman was left shocked after one of Reading's top hotels appeared to apologise for her being a vegetarian.

Laura Broad, 22, and seven friends visited The Forbury Hotel in Reading town centre on Sunday, June 28, for Afternoon Tea to celebrate her sister's birthday.

The group had an "amazing" time sipping tea and enjoying the sweet delights served to them however when the bill arrived they were surprised by what they saw.

Underneath the price for eight Full Afternoon Teas were the words "1 x vegetarian sorry".

Miss Broad, who was living in Earley at the time but recently moved to Newbury, chose not to say anything to the hotel staff at the time as she did not want to ruin the special occasion but has since regretted her decision.

She said: “It just says “sorry”, it’s offensive and makes you feel like they are saying sorry for me being vegetarian. It’s shocking I can’t quite get my head around it.

“I looked at it again and spoke to a friend and she agreed it was shocking.”

Having been a vegetarian for 10 years Miss Broad says this is the first time she has experienced something like this in the UK.

She continued: “I went to America and a couple of people laughed in my face but not in the UK - normally restaurants are very good.

“I would just like to know why they feel they needed to put it there.

“It wasn’t like they had to make a completely different meal or it was anything difficult, I mean it was just a few more cheese sandwiches.”

Miss Broad chose to become a vegetarian when she was 12 as she believes eating meat is cruel and does not like the taste of it but recognises that is her opinion.

“My boyfriend is a meat eater, I still cook meat for him and don’t expect him to say “sorry” for it,” said Miss Broad. “It’s upsetting when you’re made to feel that someone is apologising for a choice you have made.”

The manager of The Forbury Hotel, Duarte De Arez Cintra, put the remark down as "miscommunication".

He said: "It was a miscommunication between the restaurant and the kitchen apologising for letting them know so late about the vegetarian. No one informed the kitchen beforehand.

"Rather than saying sorry because the guest was vegetarian it was an apology for the late notice to the kitchen."

Are you vegetarian, what's your experience of Reading's restaurants?