Cafe staff feel threatened by abusive note
VEGAN ESTABLISHMENT WAS ALSO TARGETED BY VANDALS
MANAGERS of a vegan cafe say they feel threatened as they claimed an ‘offensive’ note with a picture of a phallus was left by customers just weeks before an advertising board was taken from the premises.
Both the city’s universities are investigating an allegation students may have been involved and Nottinghamshire Police received a report of a hate crime.
Phoebe Thornton, manager of Crocus Cafe, in Lenton Boulevard, explained there had been three incidents in recent weeks.
The first is alleged to have happened on the morning of Sunday, September 6, when Miss Thornton claimed a group of students left a rude note “on the back of their test and trace form”.
Miss Thornton, 29, said: “That was when it wasn’t a legal requirement to do it, people were just encouraged to do it (follow the coronavirus procedures). We picked up the form when they had left and noticed that they had drawn a (phallic shape) instead of writing their details on.
“The person who found it gasped when she found it - and she was really upset.”
The vegetarian cafe is predominantly vegan and another issue is alleged to have arisen the following Sunday.
“On the second occasion they came in. We have got a piano in the cafe which we can’t use at the moment because of Covid.
“They started playing the piano and then one of my staff members had to ask them to stop and then they did,” said Miss Thornton.
“They were kind of asking lots of questions - like ‘do you serve bacon?’ And ‘what’s the closest thing you have got to a bacon sandwich?’
“They left another note similar to the first one.”
Miss Thornton said a board from the cafe was taken on September 27, and that it was recovered a few days later.
“Three of them came in. They left and we kind of just got on with the day,” she said.
“It was not until the end of the day when we were going to bring the signs in that we realised one of them had gone.
“I looked back on the CCTV and could see them taking it.
“Then on Wednesday I knocked around on some doors and could work out where they lived. They were just saying ‘we don’t know what you are talking about, we don’t know what an A-board is.’ But then I could see it in their back garden, so then I just went and took it.”
The board is alleged to have been vandalised.
She added: “We certainly feel threatened by what happened.”
A University of Nottingham spokeswoman said: “We are very sorry to hear about the recent problems that have been experienced by the Crocus Cafe in Lenton, which is a wonderful resource for the whole community, including many of our students who both use the cafe and who have volunteered there in the past.
“Any anti-social behaviour is taken extremely seriously by the university and we have strict measures in place to tackle students causing a nuisance in the community through our student disciplinary code.”
A spokesman for Nottingham Trent University said: “We have been made aware of alleged student behaviour issues relating to a cafe in Nottingham and are investigating.
“Any issues raised are taken very seriously and we take swift action where our students may be in breach of our student code of behaviour.”
A spokesman for Nottinghamshire Police said: “It was reported that an advertising board was taken from the Crocus Cafe, in Lenton Boulevard, on Sunday, September 27, 2020. It was found a few days later in a nearby garden and had been vandalised.
“It was also reported that a note containing offensive words and pictures had been left in the cafe. A hate crime is any incident where someone is targeted because of their identity.”
Sergeant Andrew Hallsworth said: “Nottinghamshire Police takes hate crime and incidents very seriously and enquiries were made to establish the circumstances of these incidents. In this case, all parties involved were spoken to by an officer and a support programme has been put in place for the victim.”
There have been no arrests in connection with the investigation.