The barman was surprised we’d bothered, he said people have taken them and even things like TV remotes.
That's just being nasty for the sake of it - taking a TV remote so that future guests can't use it, when it's highly unlikely to be compatible with your own model of TV at home (for which you surely already have a remote, anyway, even if it is the same TV?).
I never said it was the right thing to do but it’s a couple of towels not £100 grand from the safe. Clearly no one has taken anything from a hotel that they’re not supposed too
Theft is theft. Try 'just' walking out with 'only' a tenner's worth of stuff from your local supermarket and insisting that it's fine, because you didn't empty the champagne shelf. Most people don't take things from hotels, apart from the disposable amenities that are clearly included for their own use.
I’d love to hear the difference between taking toilet tissue or towels from a hotel and taking glasses from a pub. Surely they’re all stealing no but I bet I’ll hear that one isn’t as bad as the other
Of course it's all stealing. Most people - at least the honest ones - understand how pubs work - that you 'keep' and walk away with the food and drink, but the tables, chairs, glasses, plates, cutlery (unless they're specific takeaway ones) are there to use whilst you're at the pub and then be left behind when you leave. Pint glasses are 50p each at Wilkos, for goodness' sake - who is so desperate that they have to resort to thieving them from a pub?