Two bars defy a council warning and open for Traveller funeral in St Helens

Gypsy Traveller League step in to support the family

Plans for a wake for on the day of a much-loved grandmother’s funeral in St Helens, Merseyside, were nearly wrecked after the council sent emails to local venues threatening to review their licences if they opened – yet two bars defied the official warnings and opened anyway.

Gelly Da Barr Smith’s mum was due to be laid to rest on the 26th September, and her and her sisters were planning to hold a wake in St Helens, only to be told by many of the licensees of pubs and clubs that they could not accept a booking – or even be open.

“This is racism - it’s because we are Travellers,” Gelly Da Barr Smith told investigators from the Gypsy Traveller League charity.

“My mummy was English and born and bred here in St Helens, she married my dad thirty years ago and they brought a property, we have lived here all our lives,” she added.

“We will do anything and everything for our local community and if our neighbours want anything doing we will help out.”

Gelly’s faith in the community was vindicated however, when two local venues – The Millhouse and Dolliez Bar - defied the council and opened to welcome the mourners in.

The owners of the Millhouse said that there was no trouble at all, adding that Gelly Da Barr Smith’s family and friends were welcome and that they were a local family from the community themselves.

Mandy Miller, owner of Dolliez Bar, said that herself and her partner Loren Parr didn’t have any problem with the family.

“I, myself, have known the family for years,” she added.

A spokesperson for the Gypsy Traveller League said: “I don’t know what the council were expecting when they tried to close the whole of St Helens for a funeral – just because it was a Traveller organised funeral - I’m lost for words.

“We are so glad that thanks to the tenacity of the family, the support that was given on social media and the support of the Gypsy Traveller League and the Travellers’ Times – two bar owners said, ‘Do you know what? – we are not going to do what the council tell us to and we WILL open and welcome this family in.’”

TT News

This story is an update of our original story earlier this week: Council warning about Traveller funeral sparks closure of pubs and clubs in St Helens | Travellers Times