Bush bites back at Nigella

It was always rather a strange union, but it had a certain chemistry. There was the lovely Nigella Lawson, the supercook who pouts at the camera and sells books by the skipload. And there was Shepherd's Bush, the shabby, crime-ridden neighbourhood where she chose to make her home.

By all accounts she entered into her role as Bush celebrity mum with gusto. She sent her children to the local state school, baked cakes for the school auction, and when her book How To Be A Domestic Goddess was published she held the launch party at the Bush Bar and Grill restaurant.

Much of her TV series was filmed at her home on the Goldhawk Road, the camera following her to buy ingredients at Shepherd's Bush market.

Then after her husband John Diamond died, she set up home with Charles Saatchi in Belgravia and sent the children to private school. But her former neighbours find it hard to swallow the harsh verdict she delivered on W12 in an interview in December's Vanity Fair. "It is not a nice neighbourhood," she said, adding with a shrug: "Another life."

Jazz singer George Melly, for one, said she was being "a bloody fool". Melly, who moved to Shepherd's Bush from Notting Hill three years ago, added: "It has many streets in which there are good, solid Victorian houses.

"She is much more likely to be coshed in Belgravia than here, because they wear more expensive jewellery. I love the market, too. It is a terrible mess, but it has very good undies, records and CDs, and lots of food."

Juli Neesam, whose children went to the same school as Ms Lawson's and who used to see John Diamond and her regularly, described her remarks as "outrageous". Shepherd's Bush, she said, had given the TV cook "a bit of street cred. It has been abandoned by her for wealth and riches and clean pavements". However, she admitted: "Given the choice, I think most people would escape to Belgravia."

A close neighbour said: "Well, Shepherd's Bush did her very well. She traded off it, it was 'I'm slumming it, aren't I a hero?' But she has moved on now. I wish her well. I don't think she made a huge number of friends around here."

Journalist Toby Young, another Bush resident, said: "I thought all the journalists in the area had a pact whereby we pretend the Bush is really cool in order to boost property prices. If Nigella keeps on like this, I'll never be able to sell up and move to Notting Hill Gate."