'We are horrified': Anger as Fermoy labelled 'horrible town' on Graham Norton Show

Tidy Towns committee to write to show to express anger at description of town by participant on Friday night

Graham Norton: a participant in the Big Red Chair segment of his TV show called Fermoy 'a horrible, horrible town'.

The description of a Cork town as “horrible” by a participant in the Big Red Chair segment on the Graham Norton Show has spurred the local Tidy Towns committee to contact the show in anger.

The participant, a Scottish native called Zoe, told Graham Norton on Friday night’s show she had lived in Ireland for 20 years. When asked where, she responded: “Fermoy, Co Cork,” which she went on to describe as a “horrible, horrible town”.

Norton, a Bandon native who has a home in Ahakista in West Cork, responded: “It’s got a giant pencil in it,” a reference to a large pencil in the town which is a signpost for the former Faber-Castell factory.

His guest replied: “It’s got a bridge if people want to jump off it.” 

Local Fine Gael councillor Noel McCarthy is chairman of the local Tidy Towns committee and has a business in the town.

He said: “We are horrified at the way our town was described. To think our town would be portrayed like that by someone who was living here is terrible.

“Fermoy has a lot to offer and won the IBAL Cleanest Town in 2018 and also in 2007.” He described Fermoy as a “fantastic town and a great community”.

He said the Tidy Towns Committee would be writing to the show to raise concerns about the views expressed during the segment about Fermoy.

He added he had received calls from a lot of people in the area who were very upset about the comments, with one woman contacting him in tears on Sunday about the segment.

On social media, one viewer wrote: “As a woman, who is proud to be from Fermoy, in Co Cork, I take exception to the comments made by your red chair guest on this week's show. Fermoy is a beautiful welcoming town to all.” 

Another wrote: “Didn't like that reference to "the bridge" at all. And Fermoy is an OK town. I saw Red Hurley there once. He was good, too.” 

A viewer who appears not to have been from the area posted: “Uh oh. Woman on the Red Chair on Graham Norton has just seriously dissed Fermoy in Cork.” 

Another posted: “Fermoy man here.....not a horrible town.”