Pub hit by BNP photo confusion

A distraught licensee has been rocked by suspicions his pub is a haven for the British National Party (BNP) after a misleading photo appeared in the national press.

Simon Taylor-Williams, freeholder at the Ye Olde Albion, in Rowhedge, Essex, has been forced to deny any allegiance with the far-right party because the Sunday Telegraph ran a picture showing a BNP councillor posed in front of his pub.

He says he has lost around 30 per cent of his weekly takings because of people wrongly believing the pub was BNP-friendly.

"It's been terrible. The article did not say we were a BNP pub, but it was in the background of the photo so we were seen as guilty by association," said Simon.

"We had people stopping us in the street saying they wouldn't use our pub anymore because they thought we were BNP.

"And people have come in asking about it and then only bought a drink after we explain what happened.

"We are known as a friendly local and everyone is welcome."

Simon has even been forced to post a message on his pub's website pointing out that the venue is "not associated with the BNP in anyway".

At the time the picture was taken, Simon said his staff asked campaigners not to take a photograph of BNP Cllr Emma Colgate outside the pub, but they refused.

"Maybe they wanted to use it because there is the Albion connection, which is an old name for Great Britain," added Simon, whose pub was voted local CAMRA Pub of the Year in 2007.

The licensee said he had considered legal action against the Sunday Telegraph, but was told by his solicitors the paper had done nothing wrong.

The Sunday Telegraph declined to comment.

Cllr Colgate was also unavailable for comment.

Last year another Essex pub, the Whitmore Arms, in Orsett, also saw its takings knocked over fears of a clash between BNP supporters and anti-fascists, which was eventually avoided.