News

Leytonstone boozer puts up signs barring non-regulars after ‘issues’

The sign, which says, ‘due to on-going issues regulars only’, was put up this month

The Bell pub on Leytonstone High Road, Credit: Google Streetview

A Leytonstone pub has insisted it is open for everyone despite putting up a sign on its door banning non-regulars.

The sign was put up outside The Bell on Leytonstone High Road sometime in January and reads: “Due to on-going issues regulars only”.

The Echo visited the pub on a February afternoon without any problems. There, a barlady said the sign was there as a precautionary measure and was aimed at preventing troublemakers from entering.

The worker, who did want to be named, said the sign had made her feel “safer” since it was put up and insisted that non-regulars were still welcome. She explained the sign was there so that it could be pointed to when people caused issues but declined to explain what the issues were.

Punters told the Echo that the pub was popular with the traveller community, and said that “traveller women” had been causing issues like having fights with each other. The barlady insisted that there was no discrimination at play and said other pubs along the High Road had used similar signs to dissuade troublemakers in the past.

Craft Union Pubs, which runs The Bell, also manages The Lord Palmerston in Walthamstow and The Wishing Well in Chingford. The Echo understands that those pubs do not have signs banning non-regulars.

Craft Union Pubs did not respond to a request for comment.

Do you know more about the issues experienced at the pub? Contact us: [email protected]


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