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Gay News: Barman Charles Lisboa has won a case for unfair dismissal from a former gay bar.
By: Nigel Robinson
The Pembroke, formelry the Coleherne
The Pembroke, formelry the Coleherne
Gay barman wins employment case
17 January 2011
Lisboa was an assistant manager at London’s Coleherne, one of the capital’s oldest and most iconic gay pubs.
He left his job when it was taken over by new owners Realpubs, who renamed it the Pembroke and rebranded it as a mainstream gastro pub.
He claimed that the new owners instructed him to put a sign outside that pub saying that it was no longer gay, and to stop a male couple kissing in the bar.
He also said that the new managers had said he was “too camp”, and he was encouraged to seat customers who did not appear to be gay in prominent places so that they could be seen from outside the pub.
In February 2010 Lisboa was awarded compensation of £4,500 by a tribunal who did not, however, agree with his claim of constructive dismissal.
He has now won his case on appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal.
The judgment stated: “A policy of embracing diversity and welcoming inclusiveness if laudable; discriminating against gay customers and staff on grounds of their sexual orientation is not: it is unlawful.”
