‘Women only’ is a ridiculous case of discrimination

ADRIAN MOSS, address supplied

I’d like to draw readers’ attention to something that happened to me in Penistone on October 25.

I’d booked with my partner to see the new David Bowie documentary ‘Moonage Daydream’ at the Penistone Paramount.

We arrived there at 7pm. However, the cinema didn’t open until 7.30pm, the film was being screened at 8pm, so we had time to kill.

We decided to have a drink in the Penistone Tap and Brewhouse on Market Street.

When we got there a woman was standing outside the front door.

She’d already knocked on the door and was waiting to be let in.

When I turned up she announced, ’it’s women only tonight’.

I thought this was a joke, so I told her, if true, it would be discrimination.

Whoever was managing the place then opened the door and I asked if the evening really was for ‘women only?’

She nodded and told me they were teaching women all about craft beers that night.

So I asked if I could sit away from this group and have a drink?

My partner, then sensing the daftness of this, asked if it would be okay for me to sit outside instead, and she could go in.

This seemed to meet with a blank expression. So, we decided to have a drink in the pub next door instead.

What puzzles me, is this… Surely this is a ridiculous case of sexual discrimination? And in this day and age?

I have worked alongside and for quite a few female bosses over the years – I have championed women’s rights in all that time.

If it had been a ‘men only’ rule I would certainly NOT have wished to go inside, but is this kind of action really helping to break down barriers?

I don’t think so. I’m flummoxed. Yes, it’s a storm in a beer glass, but it may well attract very different views from your readers.