On May 18th the UK High Court ruled that the country’s largest pub chain JD Wetherspoon had discriminated against Irish travellers who were refused entry to one of its North London franchises in 2011. Mr Justice Hand of the High Court ordered the pub chain to pay £3,000 to each person who was refused entry to the pub on that occasion. The Travellers at the centre of this case had been refused entry to the Coronet Pub on Holloway Road in North London following the annual general meeting of the Traveller Movement which took place nearby.
In delivering his judgment, Mr Justice Hand found that the pub chain had breached the Equality Act 2010 to the extent that refusal of entry to members of the travelling community amounted to racial discrimination and was “suffused with the stereotypical assumption that Irish Travellers and English Gypsies cause disorder wherever they go”. According to Justice Hand this amounted to “racial stereotyping of those with that ethnic origin”.
Solicitor for the complainants Martin Howe lauded Mr Justice Hand’s decision as one that will “shake to the core all those who engage in racist conduct towards Irish travellers and Romani Gypsies”. Mr Howe further concluded that the High Court decision amounted to “a watershed day when Gypsies and Travellers no longer have to move on but can hold their heads high in the knowledge that there is equal treatment for all”.
Click here to read an article in the Irish Times about the case.