Pub staff suffer a tirade of abuse
YOUNG CUSTOMERS ‘SCREAM AND SHOUT’ AFTER THEY ARE TOLD TO KEEP DOG ON A LEAD, IN THE LATEST OF INCIDENTS AT USUALLY PEACEFUL VENUE –
BAR staff have been subjected to a tirade of abuse from a group of customers after they were told to put their dog on a lead in the latest in a series of incidents at a Burton pub.
The customers had been having drinks in the beer garden of The Plough Inn, in Horning low Road North, but had allowed their dog off its lead, leading to concerns from staff members, landlord Philip Roe said.
However, Mr Roe says despite asking them several times to put the dog on its lead, they ignored staff and then started “shouting and screaming” and later refused to leave when asked.
The publican who reopened on April 12 says the incident was concerning and apologised for it upsetting is loyal customers. He was out at the time and returned when upset staff called him to deal with the aggressive group, he said.
In a Facebook post he said: “We would like to apologise to our lovely loyal regular customers for an incident that happened at The Plough Inn.
“We hope that people will understand that we are in very different times and that we are dealing with a whole different situation. “Unfortunately we had left the pub to go out for a bite to eat when the incident happened and our staff had to handle it until we promptly returned after they had rang us. This is not typical at The Plough as we do our very best to create a friendly and safe environment.”
Mr Roe later told the Burton Mail: “It was something over nothing. I know people like to drink alcohol but why do people have to use such foul and abusive language? “They were abusing my staff. They had asked them a few times to put their dog on its lead. I wasn’t there at that point but had to come back. They wouldn’t leave and were shouting and screaming.”
Mr Roe said the pub has suffered a few recent incidents where they have had to eject several new customers who they describe as “younger”, since reopening to serve customers outdoors.
He said: “We have had three benches smashed, a bird table smashed and a bin completely smashed and thrown over the land. It is a constant battle.
“It is new customers. Their usual pubs aren’t open so they have come here to see what they can get away with. But we are not that kind of pub so it is not happening.
“We are monitoring every single person who comes through the gate.
“This is a nice pub and we have a lot of older clientele.
“Most of the vandalism is happening later at night so we cannot monitor it all the time but some has happened during the day and staff are getting verbal abuse.”
Since pub gardens opened on April 12, Mr Roe said he has been quite busy with lots of new customers and the trade is starting to show signs of improving.