Known for his caustic comments on restaurants in his Sunday Times Winner's Dinners column, the food critic and film director slammed The Duke William as 'appalling' in Sunday's edition of the paper.
But the visit to Longridge to record the 73-year-old's new 'Dining Stars' TV show had started on a high.
Mr Winner – catchphrase 'calm down dear' – first visited pub owner Martin Carefoot's butchers and farm shop on Inglewhite Road.
He described the shop as 'superb' in his article, a sausage roll he ate as 'beyond historic – stratospheric plus.'
"He couldn't have been nicer," recalls Mr Carefoot.
"He was charm itself, like a long-lost friend who I felt I'd known for ages.
"He admired the shop, gave me his card, said I must visit his home.
"Someone asked if he was as cantankerous as thought to be – I said not a bit of it.
"He had a walk around Longridge, came to the Duke William where I helped him out of his car and welcomed him for lunch.
"He said what a nice place the pub was, we'd prepared a special menu.... and then everything changed."
Mr Carefoot said Winner barked out orders, chose a burger instead of something on the menu, demanded that ice for his drink was served on a sideplate, criticised 'albino chips' and ketchup in plastic packs and questioned why he'd not been asked how he wanted his burger cooking.
In his Sunday Times article Winner described his 'deluxe burger' as ''flat, skimpy and flaccid'' and then ''inedible''.
Mr Carefoot said: "The two ladies with him (hairdresser Dinah May and make-up artist Joan Hills) seemed very nice but but he was like a spoilt child."
Landlord Dan Horrobin, who had been running The Duke William for less than a week, described his brush with the outspoken star.
He said: "I think Mr Winner is used to dining in fancy restaurants like The Ivy, we put a lot of time and effort into preparing food but we are just a pub at the end of the day – a burger is a burger."
The film crew, however, 'were the nicest you could meet,' enjoyed their food and asked for some of Mr Carefoot's steak pies to take back to London with them.
Mr Carefoot added: "We gave them all the run of the pub that day , it wasn't empty as Mr Winner states in his article.
"But that's what we are – a good local pub with good food and good wines and beers and a lot of good customers. That's what we try to do.
"Mr Winner couldn't have been nicer in the shop – but does he always turn like that when he goes to restaurants?
"I certainly don't want to see him here again."