The ‘public house’, as the full title of that great British institution aptly reminds us, was once regarded as a space for lively debate and discussion, and since at least the 19th century has been closely associated with principles like freedom of speech and association.
How times have changed. If the FSU’s recent casework is anything to go by, the humble pub is rapidly becoming a major flashpoint in the war currently being waged by progressives on forms of speech they happen to find politically distasteful.
Recently we went to bat for a member after he was banned from his local in Bristol. When he was informed he’d no longer be welcome for a drink at The Drapers Arms because other patrons disagreed with his gender critical views, we wrote to the pub’s management pointing out that they had wandered into dangerous legal territory. Following receipt of our letter, they beat a hasty retreat and lifted the ban.
We have a similar case in Newcastle, in which one of our female members was informed in writing by her local, The Cumberland Arms, that despite being a regular patron since, ironically enough, 1984, she was now barred.
Her crime? Wearing a hoody which bore a feminist slogan. We’ve since written to The Cumberland Arms noting that we think they may have acted unlawfully and we hope to have some good news to share about this case shortly.
This isn’t the first time the FSU has stepped in to support people accused of having had a little too much to think. Earlier this year, we helped a group of our Northern Irish members after they were refused service at a watering hole in Belfast because several of them were wearing ‘Woman = Adult Human Female’ T-shirts. They’re now suing the pub.
For the avoidance of doubt, pubs and other licensed premises are within their rights to refuse service to anyone who’s had one over the eight, or who suddenly decides it might be rather jolly to start a riot with a pint glass in their hand. What they can’t do, however, is bar you for expressing your political views or philosophical beliefs.
At first glance it might seem odd that staff employed within a sector that has suffered 7,000 pub closures over the past decade would be quite so keen to deliberately alienate paying punters in this way. But then as our Director of Data and Impact Tom Harris has pointed out in several recent research briefings (here and here), the current fad among progressive employers for equity, diversity and inclusion rarely makes for good business.
We suspect our current spate of pub-related cases may well be the tip of the iceberg.
So if you or anyone you know has been banned from your local because you vote a certain way or have expressed a point of view that the landlord just doesn’t like, we want to hear from you. Email us via help@freespeechunion.org.
