Bar turned us away, members of military say
Montreal resto- bar Furco is under fire after turning away a group of uniformed soldiers last weekend. Reservists from the Canadian Grenadier Guards say they were turned away at the door after being told by staff that having military personnel in the bar was bad for business and that they would intimidate other patrons.
The incident happened around 1 a. m. Sunday when a group of about two dozen reservists showed up at the trendy resto- bar after leaving their annual regimental ball; the night is one of the only times when it is permissible for them to wear their military dress uniform in public.
The group left the ball, held at EVO on Sherbrooke St. W., and headed to Furco, on Mayor St., in two groups. When the first group of about 10 people arrived at the bar, they were seated and served without a problem. When the second group arrived 20 minutes later and tried to join their party, they were turned away at the door.
One reservist says he was told by the doorman that the restaurant did not want more than 10 uniformed members of the military in the restaurant at a time because their male clientele might feel intimidated. Another member of the group wrote on the restaurant’s Facebook page that after pleading with management to be let in, the group was told their money was not wanted, and they weren’t the restaurant’s type of patron.
“One of my friends was told ... that they weren’t at capacity, it’s that having military personnel there is bad for business as women might not mind, but the men buying drinks would get intimidated,” said one member of the group who spoke on condition that his name not be published because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the incident.
Alejandra Ponce, one of Furco’s owners, says the incident is an unfortunate misunderstanding, and explained that the resto- bar has launched an internal investigation of the weekend’s events.
Ponce says the men were denied access because they arrived a halfhour before closing and the bar did not have the capacity to accommodate them.
Furco has since posted an apology on its Facebook page: “We sincerely apologize for the unpleasant events that occurred early Sunday morning at Furco. We feel it is important to clarify that the decision to deny a group access to our premises was taken for operational reasons and not as a means of discrimination against members of the military. We at Furco have nothing but the greatest respect for all members of the Canadian Armed Forces and we are proud to count them as some of our regular patrons.”
“We were told to leave because we aren’t the clientele they ( Furco) want,” said Captain Corey Anhorn, a public relations officer who was with the group that night. “Management has since extended an apology, stating that access was denied for operational reasons and that the bouncer commented outside of his realm. It was an unfortunate incident that dampened the night, but they have apologized and we’ve accepted it and so we don’t see a reason to go any further.”