Tommy Robinson asked to leave a restaurant because staff felt uncomfortable serving him…

[harriethoyle]

… AIBU to enjoy this?!

If you spout objectionable views, don’t be surprised if people object to you!

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/tommy-robinson-kicked-out-hawksmoor-london-b1231594.html

Yanbu! Loved it! Want to see more of it 🥰

I thought he was in prison!

Did he harass someone in the restaurant? Why was he thrown out? If it’s just due to his views then I think this is wrong. What if everyone decided to not serve Christians or something

Freedom of speech and all…. But I suppose if we live in a world where Jews are denied access into certain places based on them being Jewish, then this sort of thing will also just become acceptable.

Good.

Is it legal to refuse service because you don't like someone's political views?

When I was at uni I used to work for an events staffing agency. You’d be sent off all over the city and sometimes the country to help waiter/bar at weddings and corporate things and such. While you would be told what company you were going to work for, you never knew who their client was or the type of event until you got there. Sometimes it would be brilliant things like film premieres, often dreadfully dull corporate canapé functions. On one occasion we arrived and discovered it was the UKIP conference. We were all rather furious, but decided carry on and just be incredibly charming and lovely as per usual (we were expecting them to be awful and rude to the staff). At one point one of the UKIP people came up to me (I was a manager) and started telling me how lovely it was to see such polite and well spoken staff at something like this, as usually waiting staff can barely speak the language. ‘Well done to the caterer for employing people who can actually speak to you!’ He pointed out a particularly charming barman who had just served him. I smiled, thanked him, and said that yes, Krzysztof, was indeed charming, indeed he was currently in his final year at UCL studying maths and that we had always found that he and our other Polish and Romanian (etc) staff tended to be far better than the gap year students we also employed. Their manners and work ethic were beyond compare.

Mr UKIP wasn’t happy…

I'm delighted he was kicked out of one of the best steak restaurants in London. They have several branches so hope it's a blanket ban.

No decent restaurant or establishment should knowingly serve him. If word got out their reputation among the majority who are normal non-racists would be damaged.

I would rather stab myself in the eye with a spork and eat instant ramen forever than sit near that scumbag while I eat my very expensive dinner.

Maybe he should eat in a greasy spoon cafeteria in wherever they have a majority Reform government?

Totally legitimate to not want to serve someone with this list of convictions imo…

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Robinson

Being a shit-stirring violent criminal isn't a protected characteristic under the Equality Act so fuck him.

And, based on that info, can he even afford to eat there?

Surely Mr Yaxley-Lennon is a fan of ‘management reserves the right to refuse custom….’ ?

Being a racist dickhead isn’t a protected characteristic like religion so not really the same as refusing custom on that basis.

Bad news. You'll have enjoyed any number of dinners in the vicinity of equally odious creatures and been blissfully unaware.

For someone who's pretty big on his country's right to control their borders and kick out large swathes of people I'm sure he's equally supportive of managements right to refuse service to cunts in a private establishment.

The free speech enthusiasts should be celebrating this

Ignorance is bliss, they say 🤷🏾‍♀️

Very good. Also a very good restaurant, must go soon.

I get it but it’s wrong.

You think the staff should be forced to serve him?

If he wasn't misbehaving in the restaurant then the staff should have let him and his companions eat their meal.

I think he should have been refused service at the door. Not got to a table. Given his criminal activity and lack of any repentance it seems, you could argue the possibility that someone would come up to him, start an argument and/or be violent.

Not just defending the option of a restaurant to refuse to serve a customer or potential customer.

You think the staff should be forced to serve him?

Shouldn't staff serve all patrons unless they were behaving badly? Or are we saying criminals released from jail should expect to not be served?

Being a racist isn't a protected characteristic.

1. Chap on the left of OP's photo/article (also kicked out) is Indian-British

2. The media did a good job smearing him. I once vaguely thought the same until I investigated these "objectionable" views. His speech at the Oxford Students Union is a good place to start. I might add that as with his non-white friend in the photo, I am a 'person of colour' myself 🧐

I am donning my tin hat here.
I am not a fan of his politics at all but where do we draw the line?
Who decides?
It makes me very uncomfortable.
Is it ok for restaurants to refuse women wearing "Adult human female" shirts?
Or ppl with different coloured skin?
Different religious beliefs?
Ppl with keffiyehs on?
Gay people?
Ppl in burkas?
A women only event?

I assume everyone will come on to say it's not the same but I feel like the pitchforks will be next.

Everyone is jubilant now because they dislike him but next time what if it someone you like/agree with politically that is publicly being thrown out?

I think the ability to disagree and respect others opinions is lost and imho that is not a good thing for society.

I get it but think it's a slippery slope.