On my way home from Italy yesterday, I was faced with a six-hour wait for my connecting flight at Stanstead. Rather than hang around that soulless place watching the immigrants streaming in, I decided to take a bus to a nearby town and visit a pub or two. Picking Bishop's Stortford simply because the bus was about to depart, I set off.
The place turned out to be quite interesting, steeped in history as it is. They have made a park around the mound on which the Norman Castle stood, dominating the town and cowing its Saxon citizens. In the later Middle Ages, the castle became the prison in which the Bishop of London locked up naughty priests. The place would be packed to the doors if it was still used for that purpose today!
Ambling off towards the town centre, I passed a very picturesque pub, The Black Lion, with a startling sign on the door reading "OVER 21's ONLY".
Well now, this may be legal, but is it fair?
After all, if the sign read "No Blacks" or "No Homosexuals", there would be hell to play and the owner would probably be prosecuted.
Why should anyone be allowed to discriminate against people just because they're young?
If they are over the legal age of 18, they should surely be allowed to drink.
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2 comments:
Is this form of ageism unusual in your corner of the country Papastonch?
Daahn Saarf we have a number of over 21 and probably an equal number of over 25 pubs/bars, particularly in the riotous town centres. A necessary measure to preserve the reputation of a respectable venue.
I've found that this is very much to the landlords' discretion and simply an excuse to refuse entry to the marauding young bingers that congregate at the weekend. Sensible, well-behaved whippersnappers may well be let in.
I haven't noticed any such restrictions in my town, South Shields, which does get quite riotous on weekends. But maybe the publicans are more interested in money than reputation around here! Glad to hear that the landlords exercise discretion in the enforcement of the rule, anyway.
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