Would you ban scruffy customers? Licensees split after Camden pub criticised for turning away tradesman
According to a local newspaper the Camden New Journal, staff at the newly refurbished Princess of Wales pub asked tradesman Jim Lebaigne, who was wearing work clothes, to leave “out of respect for everyone.”
Licensee Caroline Santi said that people wearing overalls or paint-covered clothes could make chairs and furniture dirty.
She told the paper: “"We serve everyone, builders and celebrities. We hold no distinction between anyone. We just ask that if you are in work clothes you go home and change. We serve the community. We help out at the community centre with the fair."
However, the move angered locals who accused the pub of not understanding the area and of being judgemental towards customers.
John Ellis, licensee at the Crown Inn in Oakengates Shropshire said although he’d never asked anyone to leave for wearing work clothes, he understood that scruffy customers could be a tricky issue for publicans.
"The only occasions where I can recall asking someone to leave, they were people we wouldn't have wanted in here anyway.
“However, having spent the last two days carrying out a periodic cleaning of the upholstery in both my pubs, I can sympathise with any licensee who has a strict policy on clothing. In such a case, there has to be a limit on what is tolerable. Whatever you say, it can be the wrong answer, so where you draw that line can be key to getting it right.”
However, Claire Alexander who runs the Ebrington Arms in Chipping Campden and the Killingworth Castle in the Cotswold said she thought it was ‘ridiculous’ to risk upsetting customers.
In our pubs we have a brilliant mix of people from the very wealthy and well known (Alan Shearer last week!) to gardeners, farmers, bankers and tourists. Everyone is welcome and it’s that magical thing about pubs, to create a space where all types of folk can come and feel welcome and have a chat with someone they wouldn't normally bump into. That’s the most special thing about the industry and our pub heritage. Pubs are magic for that reason!”
