Man told ‘we don’t serve Protestants’ settles case

He knew the owner, John Bittles, and had spoken to him earlier than.

Mr Bittles advised him: “No seat, no drink, new guidelines within the bar. I take care of my locals.”

The owner then pointed to a gaggle of males and continued: “You haven’t been in right here for about three years, and we do not serve Protestants; solely joking, no, I am not.”

The person stated he felt intimidated by this because the feedback have been made very loudly and have been greeted by cheering from different clients.

He left the bar instantly and made a report back to the PSNI, who recorded it as a hate crime.

Chatting with the Equality Fee, he stated he felt he needed to problem the feedback.

“The owner is aware of me, and I used to be shocked by his feedback and was actually involved by the response of the individuals within the bar,” he added.

“I truthfully thought the times of such a behaviour in Northern Eire have been behind us.”

The Chief Commissioner of the Equality Fee for Northern Eire, Geraldine McGahey, stated this serves as a reminder of anti-discrimination legal guidelines to all companies serving the general public.

“It will be significant that clients don’t really feel intimidated or degraded due to their non secular beliefs,” she added.

“Everybody who walks by their doorways must be handled with dignity and respect, it doesn’t matter what their non secular background.

“That is additionally a reminder for every of us that what somebody would possibly see as banter or a innocent joke might have the impact of being offensive or intimidating to another person.”