Pub That Kicked Out First Date Kissing Guys Forced to Close its Doors
Protesters kiss outside the closed doors of the John Snow pub in Soho. Photograph: Frantzesco Kangaris for the Guardian
The pub at the centre of a homophobia row was forced to close its doors, after hundreds of people attended a "gay kiss-in" at the venue.
The John Snow, in Soho, central London, became the focus of unwanted attention when James Bull and Jonathan Williams were asked to leave on Wednesday night by a staff member who allegedly described the couple's kissing as "obscene".
Williams tweeted about the incident, which propelled him and Bull, who were on their first date, to the attention of national media, leading to plans for a "gay kiss-in" Facebook event, scheduled for 7pm on Friday. The John Snow, perhaps wary of the impending siege, closed at around 3.30pm, leaving bemused drinkers locked out on the street with beverages in hand, according to one bystander.
About 300 people attended the scheduled kiss-in, which took place despite the closure of the pub and included Bull, Williams and gay rightsactivist Peter Tatchell. Just after 7pm mass co-ordinated kissing took place in the street, to whoops of encouragement from a growing crowd. "It's still a victory," said Paul Shetler, a senior director at an IT firm. "They've wound up losing a night's takings because they couldn't have a bunch of men with tongues in each others' mouths."
Encouraged by a large media presence, one attendee tried to pin a rainbow flag to the doorframe of the closed pub, while others stuck flyers depicting men in various states of undress on to the windows.
While the event urged same-sex individuals to engage in kissing, embraces were generally in short supply – although several participants made up for the lack of quantity with a large amount of vehemence. Michael Peacock, who described himself as a full-time male escort and was sporting red leather trousers with lace-up posterior, was one of the more enthusiastic.
"There's something really wrong if a pub will tolerate people of different sexes kissing but not of the same sex," he said, on breaking off from an embrace with a tall, dark, bearded man. "It wasn't as if they were having full-on sex."
The event had been in the planning since the early hours of Thursday, when Shetler first heard the news of Bull and Williams's ejection through Twitter.
Bull, a charity volunteer, and Williams, a journalist for a financial magazine, had dined in Covent Garden on Wednesday evening before strolling to the John Snow, which Williams said he was accustomed to visiting around once a week.
The date followed its natural progression but when the pair began to kiss they were asked to leave the pub, first by a man claiming to be the landlord, who said their display of affection was "bothering" him, and later by a woman in staff uniform who said she was the landlady and found their kissing "obscene".
Bull, 23, and Williams, 26, who were bombarded by news crews and well-wishers outside the John Snow last night, deny having behaved in any unseemly way.
The John Snow has refused to comment on Bull and Williams's allegations, while Samuel Smith's brewery, which operates the pub, has not replied to the Guardian's calls.
The pub shut its doors 3.30pm on Friday, according to Natalie Curran, a 31-year-old TV producer, who was drinking at the John Snow when it closed, said: "The guy on the door said the landlord didn't want to stay open because of the number of people who might come."
The Metropolitan police said it had not advised closure of the premises and there had been no plans for an increased police presence around the pub. There was a small police presence at the kiss-in, which spilled across the road at stages.
Williams had turned to Twitter to register his discontent on Wednesday evening: "Seven years in London & I've never been made to feel bad for being gay. 45 min ago the John Snow pub, W1F had me removed for kissing a date," he tweeted.
His post, retweeted hundreds of times, spawned last night's festivities, organised by Shetler.
"Don't talk, just kiss," Shetler wrote on the Facebook event page, using the lyrics from Right Said Fred's seminal 1991 hit in his guidance to attendees, who were also advised: "Don't buy anything."
But despite the guidance, not all protesters were able to take advantage of the planned intimacy.
Kevin Wilson, 34, who described himself as "the only wheelchair user" at the protest, was one of several disappointed with the lack of lip-locking on show.
"I sort of like oiled my lips up," he said. "Brushed my teeth, chewed my gum, but no." He broke off from an interview to appeal to fellow protesters: "I'm ready for a snog! Anybody?" However the Guardian did not see his wishes fulfilled.
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