Restaurant accused of transphobia twice on the same night
THE owners of a restaurant in Spinningfields said they were ‘relooking’ at their procedures after two transgender customers called out the venue.
The 20 Stories restaurant in Spinningfields was accused of two separate incidents of transphobia on Wednesday evening.
One of the customers said they were turned away for not following the venue’s dress code while another alleged they were misgendered multiple times by staff.
The group that owns 20 Stories has apologised for both incidents and promised to “learn from the mistakes made”.
Jamie Rose Dee, 25, visited the venue with her boyfriend for drinks.
When they got to the front of the queue to get in they were approached by a staff member who asked them to fill out a form with their contact details on.
“He said to me ‘can you sign here, bro?’ and it made me feel really uncomfortable,” Jamie said. “After I signed the form, he said ‘thanks mate’ with a real emphasis on it.”
As they left a female member of staff asked if everything was okay and the couple informed her that the bouncer had been transphobic.
Jamie, who has more than 155,000 followers on Instagram, posted about the incident shortly after on her social media. She was inundated with messages of support from her followers.
The venue eventually reached out to Jamie and called her.
“I didn’t want anything other than confirmation that LGBT+ people are welcome there. When the manager rang me and asked if it was Jamie he was speaking to, he went ‘hello sir.’
“I asked him to repeat himself and he said ‘hello sir’ again. I was so angry because the whole point of the conversation was because I had been misgendered. How tone death can you be?”
Another customer said they felt excluded from the venue on Wednesday evening after they were told they didn’t fit the ‘dress code.’
Teddy Lamb, 30, had visited Manchester from London with their housemates. They had booked a table at 20 Stories for drinks and food with the intention of having a ‘fancy dinner out.’
“When we got to the front of the queue, the woman at the door was very nice to us but said she just needed to call down the manager.
“I shrugged it off but as soon as he came down, he looked at us, shook his head and walked off.”
Teddy said they were wearing a green camo top and pink tapered trousers and that their party was ‘visibly queer’ with coloured hair and facial piercings.
“It was just mortifying,” Teddy added. “There was a big queue and we were just so embarrassed.
“It wasn’t an expected experience in Manchester. That’s not what the city is known for.”
D&D London, the restaurant group that owns 20 Stories, apologised for the incidents and said they have launched an investigation into what happened.