OUR LATEST ISSUE
Gay News: Two men have claimed that they were asked to leave a pub in London's Soho for kissing each other
The John Snow is in London's gay village
Gay kissers ejected from Soho pub
14 April 2011
Jonathan Williams and James Bull say that they were ejected from the John Smith pub in Broadwick Street, Soho, after the landlady claimed that what they were doing was “obscene”.
Although not a gay pub, the John Smith pub is in the heart of Soho, London’s gay village.
The couple in their twenties, who were on their first date, said that a fellow drinker, who said he was the pub’s off-duty landlord, first asked them to stop kissing at about 8.30pm on Wednesday 13 April.
The pair refused, and nothing more was made of it until approximately 10.45pm when a woman, who said she was the pub’s landlady, allegedly told them to leave because what they were being “obscene”.
Bull told the Guardian: “Then the other guy from earlier came over and said we had to leave now because we weren’t allowed to do that.”
A straight couple at an adjacent table, who did not know the two men, were also asked to leave when they questioned the landlord’s right to eject Williams and Bull.
Williams told the Guardian: “We weren’t being over the top, there wasn’t anything that would be deemed unseemly.”
He later posted on Twitter: “Seven years in London & I’ve never been made to feel bad for being gay. 45 min ago the John Snow pub W1F had me removed for kissing my date.”
The couple have made a complaint to the police and the Metropolitan police have confirmed that they are investigating an incident which occurred at a venue on Broadwick Street on Wednesday night.
