Law suit begins as London pub refuses Travellers entry

The Irish Traveller Movement in Britain (ITMB) is taking legal action after a London pub barred its members from entry because they were Irish Travellers.

It was approaching dusk on the 17th November, and ITMB had just finished their annual conference on tackling discrimination against Gypsies and Travellers.

A group of conference delegates, including several Irish Travellers, the ITMB director, a senior police officer, the head of a legal firm and a Roman Catholic priest, made their way to the nearby Coronet Pub on London's Holloway Road to have a drink and discuss the day's work.

Before they could enter, however, they were stopped in their tracks by doormen who had been instructed to prevent those attending the conference from coming inside.

Inspector Mark Watson, who is head of diversity at Cheshire Constabulary, was only allowed to remonstrate with the pub's management once he had produced his police identity card.

The Coronet is part of the nationwide JD Wetherspoon chain of public houses.

John Hutson, the chief executive of JD Wetherspoon, claimed not to believe the refusal was racially motivated. Mr Hutson told the Irish Times that The Coronet's manager "felt that there was a potential for disturbance if large groups were admitted to the pub following the meeting of Irish Travellers at the resource centre in Holloway Road.

"A group of 15 Irish Travellers came to the pub at the same time and were refused entry because of the size of the group," he said, appearing not to appreciate that the diverse group was composed of Irish Travellers, their friends and colleagues.

Martin Howe, who is senior partner at Howe & Co solicitors and has worked closely with ITMB, told the Irish Times that Mr Hutson's remarks “show a complete lack of transparency in relation to the actual circumstances of this racist incident, and an understanding of equality law that befits a staff handbook from the 1970s.

"It seems the only way to change attitudes in this company is via litigation, and I have every intention to gain justice for those affected by this company’s horrible racist action. Mr Hutson and his staff will now explain themselves to a judge, under oath, in a court of law", he said.

Matthew Brindley, policy and research officer at the Irish Traveller Movement, told Travellers' Times that The Coronet incident needed to understood in the context of increasing prejudice towards Gypsies and Travellers.

We need "to place this story in the wider context of Dale Farm, and especially the racist and discriminatory comments we had from the Deputy Leader of Basildon Council, Councillor Stephen Horgan and the Chair of Essex County Council, Councillor Rodney Bass," Mr Brindley said.

He was referring to a letter sent by Rodney Bass to the Mayor of Basildon, in which he referred to Dale Farm residents as "travellers including Irish Criminals", and to comments made online by Cllr Horgan, who called Dale Farm "a slum" run by "slum landlords".

"The mask has now slipped, said ITMB director Yvonne McNamara. "These astonishing comments reveal that Basildon were never interested in addressing the shortage of Traveller sites in the area".

The case against JD Wetherspoon continues.