Jonathan Williams (left) and James Bull (right) said they were thrown out of a Soho pub for kissing A pub where hundreds of gay rights’ protesters were planning a “kiss-in” protest has apparently asked its punters to leave and locked its doors.
James Bull and Jonathan Williams said they were thrown out of the John Snow pub on Broadwick Street in London’s Soho for kissing on Wednesday night.
More than 700 people said they would attend a protest, mobilised on Facebook, at 1900 BST on Friday.
Thomas Paget, the licence holder of the pub, refused to comment on the row.
The John Snow pub and Samuel Smith’s brewery, which owns the central London venue, have also not commented on the incident.
Asked whether the pub had been the victim of a “misunderstanding”, Mr Paget said: “I don’t have anything to say.”
At 1640 BST, onlooker Richard Lally, 26, of Clapham, south London, said: “About 40 minutes ago, people started piling out of the pub. The doors were then locked.
“If he doesn’t like the house rules, don’t use the pub”
Daniel Griffiths Ex-president of the Federation of Licensed Victuallers Associations
“They won’t let anyone back in.
“You wouldn’t think in Soho, this kind of thing would happen.”
Friday evening’s planned protest had “gone viral” and the response had been “absolutely amazing”, according to protest organiser Paul Shetler.
“It was kind of the obvious thing to do,” he said.
“It seemed rather than us just sort of accepting that we should be hiding away from a place like this we should just go there instead and have a massive kiss-in.
“People might want to show up with a partner but I’m sure there will be plenty of people willing to lend their lips for human liberation,” he added.
Referring to Wednesday night’s incident Mr Bull, 23, said a man claiming to be the pub’s landlord first objected to their kissing shortly after 2145 BST, but they were asked to leave an hour later after a “quick peck on the lips”.
“We had just kissed. It was nothing obscene,” he added.
He said the pair were thrown out of the pub at about 2250 BST.
Mr Williams, 26, said they were kissing but it “wasn’t anything indecent”.
But Daniel Griffiths, ex-president of the Federation of Licensed Victuallers Associations, said: “If he doesn’t like the house rules, don’t use the pub.”
Mr Griffiths, owner of the Miners Rest in Barnsley, said every pub landlord was free to make in-house rules which show “respect to the rest of the clientele”.
The Metropolitan Police is investigating Wednesday’s incident.
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