Bath bar investigates homophobia complaint

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Tuesday, November 13, 2012
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Bath Chronicle

A Bath bar is investigating claims that a homophobic remark was made by one of its staff to gay people in a group trying to get into the premises.

A storm of protest has developed on Facebook over an incident at Belushi’s in Green Street, in which the group of eight people were turned away.

  1. Belushi's in Green Street, Bath

    Belushi's in Green Street, Bath

The group claims that they were told “This isn’t a f...ing homosexual bar anyway” as they were leaving.

The group had decided to move on because not all of the party had the right identification documents to be allowed in.

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Today Belushi’s manager Chris Fox said he had launched an immediate investigation.

“We take any allegations of homophobia very seriously and an investigation is now ongoing. I will be following it up very vigorously.”

He said disciplinary action would be taken if the investigation upheld the complaint.

Among the party members was Adam Heimes-Herridge, who complained on the bar’s Facebook page.

More than 200 people “liked” his complaint, which was underlined by a number of other comments attacking the bar.

Mr Heimes-Herridge said he was looking for an apology.

“An apology would just be nice from them. It wouldn’t have got this far if they had just acknowledged and apologised. I don’t want anything more or less from them.”

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  • Profile image for PWBath

    by PWBath

    Wednesday, November 14 2012, 4:39PM

    “Mr meldrew - I beg to differ - it's a fascinating story which shows how the world is changing, and for all its faults social media is emerging as a powerful platform for those who usually are denied justice through other channels. None of us are perfect, but as Sarah Duncan and now this bar have found out, we need to watch what we say to others. I for one welcome this.
    And menime - please re-read the article, this is about (alleged) homophobia not ID. Being denied equal rights is not an over reaction, the clue is in the word 'rights.'”

  • Profile image for 1MVBR

    by 1MVBR

    Wednesday, November 14 2012, 1:52PM

    “Wow.

    Cards on the table: Unlike some commenters here, I know nothing about any of the personalities involved in this story. That doesn't mean I'm unbiased by any means, but I do think it's important to address some of the disappointing (I'm being charitable there by the way) views put forward here.

    Businesses should understand that any employee of theirs will be representing them in dealing with the public. If they employ people who step out of line in any way then it will reflect badly on them, so it's wise to choose those people very carefully. The initial statement from the manager included in this story suggests that he understands these principles very well. Further, if a bar chooses to have a Facebook page, they can expect complaints to appear on it. That's part of a healthy communication process between them and their customers. It's a quick and transparent way to alert people to potential problems and get them resolved.

    An allegation has been made here, and the way to encourage people to report abuse, of any nature, is certainly NOT to ridicule, question and cast doubt upon their honesty, sobriety or maturity. All anyone can reasonably expect is a proper investigation by the management, and for any appropriate measures to be taken by them.

    If nothing can be proven, whether through lack of evidence or through concluding that the allegation was malicious, then that's fine. What is not fine is for people to say it's acceptable or trivial to discriminate against or fling insults at people because they happen to be gay.

    This has become rather tiresome, I must say.”

  • Profile image for menime

    by menime

    Wednesday, November 14 2012, 1:35PM

    “hate it all u want people but its true its political correctness gone mad 1 person makin a mountain out of a mole hill”

  • Profile image for mrmeldrew

    by mrmeldrew

    Wednesday, November 14 2012, 1:07PM

    “What a complete and utter non story.
    If there was a real issue here,the correct way is too raise it with the management,they also could of got the door supervisors details of off their badge which ahas to be displayed. To raise this issue via a social media network is nonsense because its all one sided and gives a bad outlook on the venue when non of this maybe hasnt happened at all.
    How ridiculous to even think of raising it in the way they have,just goes to show exactly how immature they are. What proof have they got that what they claim was said was actually said? maybe they misheard? maybe it wasnt the staff at all,maybe it was another customer frustrated at being held up by this group?
    Lots of its buts and maybe.
    If I was the venue then I would get a facebook page on rude customers,they could even upload pics of them from their cctv ! How about all shops doing this ? a name and shame page with pics and audio if they are able to. It would be really interesting to show the levels that some customers put shop and entertainment staff through.
    The customer is NOT always right!”

  • Profile image for menime

    by menime

    Wednesday, November 14 2012, 12:41PM

    “BV_BV a doorman has the right to ask anyone for I.D if that person want to come in to any venue regardless of there age or how old they look/are and can refuse entry if that person has not got I.D the group in question did not all have I.D hence why they was refused entry not because of there sexual perference im 33 iv been refused entry to many club/pub around bath for not havin I.D i dont go around kicking up a fuss about it”

  • Profile image for BV_BV

    by BV_BV

    Tuesday, November 13 2012, 9:41PM

    “ILoveBath85 - You are assuming that these were all teenagers. I know two of them and they are aged about 30. Why would they be asked for identification?”

  • Profile image for joning

    by joning

    Tuesday, November 13 2012, 7:24PM

    “And almost identical usernames. Come now 1MVBR, you old cynic- it's a coincidence I'm sure...”

  • Profile image for 26sean

    by 26sean

    Tuesday, November 13 2012, 7:11PM

    “@ by 1MVBR
    mother and daughter yes and 1 is a door superviser ( info from facebook )”

  • Profile image for 1MVBR

    by 1MVBR

    Tuesday, November 13 2012, 6:41PM

    “How interesting that certain commenters here appear to have signed up to this site purely to comment on this story. Two of you seem to have the same surname too. You don't happen to know any bouncers, do you?”

  • Profile image for menime

    by menime

    Tuesday, November 13 2012, 6:02PM

    “it political correctness gone mad if he was jo public it would of been swept under the rug an forgotten about”

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