Protesters gather at The Bonneville pub following ‘insensitive’ tweets about stabbing victim
Protester confronts owner of Hackney pub The Bonneville. Photograph: Russell Parton
A group of protesters gathered this evening outside The Bonneville on Lower Clapton Road to confront the new pub’s ‘insensitive’ reaction to a stabbing victim who sought shelter in the pub on Saturday night.
The gathering ended in a heated exchange between the pub’s owner and a handful of protesters calling for residents to boycott the establishment, which opened last week.
On Saturday evening the @BonnevilleE5 tweeted: “#CSIClapton due to events on Lower Clapton Road this evening, we will unfortunately have to close #WelcomeToHackney”.
At 7.04pm another tweet was sent: “Some kid got stabbed over the road and decided to run into ours. Great look for our first week.”
The pub issued a public apology on Sunday which said the victim had been “very aggressive” towards the staff trying to help him, and “more interested in calling his friends to gain retribution for his injury.” At the protest, Gilles told protesters that the apology was poorly handled.
The constructive criticisms and comments made over the last couple of days by people rightfully appalled, have been strongly taken on board
— The Bonneville (@BonnevilleE5) June 17, 2014
Gilles said: “The response to the comments made on social media was totally justified. It was a disgraceful thing to say, not representative of how I feel about the area or the situation.”
The organisers of the protest sent invitations via private messages on social media, calling for participants to “wear aprons, tea towels, and a suggested menu for the Bonnerville (sic).”
About twenty participants turned up, with a few evening commuters joining in as they passed by.
Ruairi Gilles, who co-owns the pub with his brother Mark, emerged from the pub to address the protesters, asserting that he had helped the victim personally.
Adding to days of backlash to the comments on social media, protesters called for the pub to be shut down, and attached tea towels to the building’s facade with messages such as “Bye Bye Bonneville” written on them in permanent marker.
Leslie, who led the confrontation with Gilles, is based in Camden but has family in Hackney.
“We don’t feel welcome here” she told Gilles.
Flyers were handed out labelled with the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) logo calling for an end to “gentrificleansing.”
The protesters fired questions at Gilles about the nature of his business: What do you charge? Who do you employ? Where are you from? Do you care about the community?
Speaking to the Hackney Citizen, Gilles said: “I think we’re priced fairly and at the end of the day we do have a business to run. The rent increases that everyone’s talking about, we have to pay as well – we don’t own the building.”
Niyazi, who has run the off-license next door to the Bonneville site for seven years, moved to Hackney from Turkey in 1983.
“Someone made a big mistake, but I don’t think they should have to close down because of it,” he said.
“They (the owners) have been here for seven months and they are quite nice people. It’s a nice place. To be honest, we need something like that around here.”