The Hoskins, in Darlington, forced to remove sign refusing soldiers access (From The Northern Echo)

The Hoskins, in Darlington, forced to remove sign refusing soldiers access

7:59am Monday 8th February 2010 in

By Stuart Arnold »

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A PUB has been accused of discriminating against the Armed Forces after barring squaddies at certain times of the week.

Sharon Lupton, 52, whose son has served in Afghanistan, forced The Hoskins, in Darlington, to take down a sign which said that groups of well-behaved squaddies were welcome – but not on Fridays and Saturdays after 7pm and not after 3pm on Sundays.

Despite the concession, however, the chain which runs the pub said its policy of refusing entry to large groups of Army personnel at the allotted times remains in place.

Mrs Lupton, of Lorraine Crescent, Darlington, whose son, Paul Leonard, is an aircraft technician with the RAF and has twice served in Afghanistan, wrote to the Barracuda Group after her daughter alerted her to the sign above a door.

She said: “I am really irate.

I just find it discrimination.

Why can’t they come in and have a drink whenever they want? And why take the sign down if the policy still stands?

It is pointless.”

In her letter, Mrs Lupton said she was appalled by the sign, adding: “I thought pubs employed doormen to stop any trouble and eject the people causing it, regardless of their colour, occupation or any other agenda.

“My family, friends and I will not be using this pub until [you] give our servicemen and women the respect and admiration they deserve.”

Sarah Calderbank, a spokeswoman for the pub group, said the pub had reviewed the way it communicated its policy after admitting the wording of the sign had provoked the wrong sort of response.

She said there had been a number of incidents over the past few years involving groups of intoxicated Army personnel in the Darlington area and it had long been an emotive subject among licensees.

She said this had led to some licensees in the town refusing entry, while others, including The Hoskins, had adopted a policy to restrict admittance.

The spokeswoman said the pub’s continued stance was particularly aimed at Army personnel from Catterick Garrison, in North Yorkshire.

She said: “The Hoskins is a family-friendly pub that serves food throughout the day and evening. While we do welcome customers from the Armed Forces, we reserve the right to refuse large groups if we believe they have the potential to impact on other customers’ enjoyment of the pub.

“We do accept that the sign may have caused unnecessary offence to Mrs Lupton and that is the reason the manager took it down, however, our policy on large groups of squaddies will remain.”

Darlington businessman Alasdair MacConachie, chairman of the Independent Advisory Panel of Catterick Garrison’s Infantry Training Centre and a former soldier, said: “To put these signs up is an absolute disgrace and discrimination in my considered view.

“I am very supportive of the military who do a fantastic job and there is a lot of strong support for them in Darlington.

“Generally speaking, if a squaddie misbehaves they will be fiercely dealt with when they get back to barracks and are fined and subject to disciplinary procedures.”

Sergeant Dave Kirton, of Durham Police, who manages the town centre beat team in Darlington, said soldiers and other members of the Armed Forces caused an “insignificant amount” of trouble.

He said: “We don’t agree with any particular group in the community being automatically barred, whether it is soldiers or anyone else.”

■ A snapshot survey by The Northern Echo of ten town centre pubs found that none had a policy of automatically turning away groups from the military services.

Carl Mafham, joint manager of the Red Lion, in Priestgate, said: “If they come in and treat the place right and don’t cause any hassle we have no reason to turn them away.”

Robert Watson, manager of Tanners Hall, in Skinnergate, added: “If they behave themselves we let them in. Ninety nine per cent of them are fine.

It’s just the one per cent who give them a bad name.”

Comments(35)

scott thornberry says...
8:45am Mon 8 Feb 10

i don't agree with policies like this, not just because it is barring military personnel for no other reason than their occupation, but because it is blatent discrimination and it is something which is rife in the pub industry.

There are other policies which have been put in place, not in Darlington as far as I know, which is quite laughable and I do not really know how they get away with it. On a recent night out in York I was out with about 8 or 9 mates. We were actually turned away from several pubs because "no groups of lads are allowed in". So we were barred because there were more than 2 or 3 of us. So for the rest of the night we had to split up like little children around the corner from the pub and then walk in as though we did not know each other. And I won't even mention the 'free entry for ladies' promotions.

Imagine if you advertised a job and stated that no soldiers and no men too apply, attractive ladies only please.