Onion argy-bargy after pub patrons’ ‘misunderstanding’

TWO men were filmed brawling on the ground outside a city pub, just hours after watering holes opened up for the first time since lockdown began.

The footage was recorded by a passer-by on Wednesday afternoon, who was walking along the Cowgate when he spotted the scuffle outside The Town House bar.

The video begins just after the two men spilled out of the pub, and shows them rolling around the pavement, with other people also involved.

Bags of shopping, including a net of onions, tumble onto the surrounding pavement and road.

One of the men is pushed back, and the other is taken inside the pub by others attempting to break it up, while another woman continues to push the man on the ground.

The pub confirmed there had been a “misunderstanding” indoors which had moved out onto the street before the door was closed.

A spokeswoman said: “There had been an incident inside the pub. It was a misunderstanding and the situation has now been resolved for all parties involved.”

The man who recorded the footage said: “The first thing that went through my mind was no masks, no distancing – it was madness.

“No police arrived but the door was shut and one guy was left picking up his messages before other members of the public came to help.”

Another man said he “felt sorry” for the publican with trouble breaking out so soon after the restrictions were eased.

He added: “Obviously this video only tells one side of story of what has happened here, but this publican has just reopened their doors and this unfolds.

“I’m aghast that this has happened so soon. The ‘told you so’ mob will see this and think they are absolutely right that the pubs should never have reopened.”

A Police Scotland spokesman said the force had not been made aware of the incident.

Shopping spills out as the brawlers tumble to the pavement, leaving one man to pick up the debris outside the closed doors of The Town House bar.