LBC Radio host Steve Allen sparks outrage by calling Ali G’s hometown Staines ‘God’s waiting room for the Jeremy Kyle show’ on air
DJ lashed out at after a listener complained about the closure of Waitrose and plans for a new Primark
LBC Radio host Steve Allen sparked outrage after calling a town "God's waiting room for the Jeremy Kyle show".
He lashed out at Staines — famous as the home of Ali G — after a listener called Louise complained about the closure of Waitrose and plans for a new Primark store.
The Early Breakfast presenter said: "I thought they've always had a Primark. I thought that was the first one in the entire universe in Staines because that was their market wasn't it?
"Primark's market is Staines, Louise. As I say, God's waiting room for the Jeremy Kyle show."
Later he ranted about teenage mums ";puffing on fags" in the shopping centre where Primark is due to open a new store.
The DJ said: "It's going into the Elmsleigh Centre, that's a lovely place isn't it?
"I've spent many a happy minute walking through the Elmsleigh Centre just to get out the other side as quick as possible.
"Seriously, you do see mums puffing on fags looking about 15 years old pushing prams. There's an awful lot of that in Staines.
"You didn't go to Waitrose because it's obviously too expensive. If Primark opened a food section they'd coin it, they'd absolutely be minted."
His tirade is sure to infuriate snooty residents who are desperate to distance their town from its downmarket reputation in the past.
One local blasted the DJ online saying: "Steve Allen is an immensely unpleasant human being who is so highly regarded by LBC that they put him on the air at 4am."
James Foster tweeted: "Steve Allen may of helped lower my local property prices, please tell him to keep it up!"
The Surrey commuter town endured years of ridicule after comedian Sascha Baron Cohen chose Staines as the home of his fictional rapper Ali G in the late 1990s.
He called the town a "s***hole" in his 2002 film Ali G In Da House.
In 2012 Spelthorne Borough Council officially changed the name to the more genteel-sounding Staines-upon-Thames.
The creators of the petition to save the posh supermarket wrote council leader Ian Harvey saying: "Over the last few years Spelthorne Council has made much of its efforts to re-brand our town and ensure we moved away from the days when Staines was regarded as a run-down butt of so many jokes.
"The proposed departure of the country’s most upmarket and prestigious supermarket has in one fell swoop undone all that good work."
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