In the news

I hope the danger has receded for his community by now. Glad he's been safe.

The guy has also banned card payments in his pubs.

Both this and banning mobiles are, of course, excellent moves. The rest, particularly his evident contempt for staff, are awful.

When I first moved to London permanently, people used to go to a Sam Smith's after college. I was completely shocked by how shit the beer was. I've hardly ever drunk in a Sam Smith's since and usually endeavour to stumble right out again if I accidentally find myself in one, if the others are willing.

they will basically kick you out if you even look at your phone.

Which is illegal under the Equality Act of 2010 as many disabled people usually use their device as an aid (deaf, autistic, diabetic, blind/visually impaired, etc.)

E.g. an autistic person may use their device to recentre, a deaf person may use their device for speed to text , a blind/VI person may use their device to highlight and read a menu.

Sam Smith literally telling his staff to break the law, or they get the sack.

Both this and baning mobiles are, of course, excellent moves

Is this sarcasm?

Both this and baning mobiles are, of course, excellent moves.

If that’s not sarcasm, then go do one >>>>>>>>>>

I was completely shocked by how shit the beer was

whoah there, the bitters are perfectly good.

Their lager gives me an instant headache, without fail.

Saying that, their non-alcoholic ale is one of the nicest I've ever tried

I imagine Oliver wrote his thoughts without the knowledge you shared in #59278, so maybe a little harsh.

Their wheat beer is perfectly acceptable. Also, the Captain Kidd does a nice vegan lunch and is the only pub along that stretch of the river that allows dogs, so they get the occasional visit from me.

What kind of pub doesn't allow dogs??

A cat pub?

Isn't most of this crazy behaviour illegal from an employment point of view?

I'd have thought that being sacked for incorrect change, or for not kicking people out for looking at their phones or whatever would simply allow for a fairly simple litigation?

It is annoying that the guy will never actually be adversely (financially) affected by the fallout from the kind of anti-social behaviour described though; I imagine hes doesn't exactly have a settled state of mind for obsessions like this at least.

I know. Town of Ramsgate, Prospect of Whitby and the Dickens Inn need to sort their shit out.

Isn't it standard practise for US firms to evade US sanctions by dealing through Canadian firms?

It sounds from the reporting like some kind of social cleansing crusade. Fucked up.

Ah ha! This seems more plausible @Well_is_it

He pays his staff as little as possible and employment tribunals are risky in the extreme if you're low-paid - if you lose the case then you're fucked.

Plus you've got the hassle of trying to bring the case and deal with all the process and paperwork and all that shit in the first place, when you're out of work and scrambling to find something else for minimum wage/zero hours, or already in some other shit min wage job (or jobs) that sucks up all your time and energy.

He benefits from treating his employees like shit, safe in the knowledge that their circumstances make any kind of retaliation difficult. Obviously he's not the only cunt doing this, he's just currently one of the most visible ones in the news.

Good singer though.

I ran a tour de sam smiths around cheshire just before christmas. It was great, if a bit blinkered seeminly. Every pub was receptive and friendly (one is a favourite with a load of local cyclists) until we got to the last, where the punters were, to put it frankly, cunts.
I really liked the mobile phone policy but admittedly hadn't thought of it in a disability context - you'd hope staff would be pragmatic in that kind of situation.

Also the extra stout is great.

He pays his staff as little as possible and employment tribunals are risky in the extreme if you're low-paid - if you lose the case then you're fucked.

I see. So he's running his business flouting the way the law should work, but taking advantage of the way it actually does.

Edit: A brief googling of him resulted in a spate with HMRC over pension details. Presumably there's a pensions scandal in there somewhere as well.

He'd have some job enforcing "no phones" in sinclairs in Manchester

I was in the Prospect with my dog about a week ago.

Yeah, the Vine is always good.

Plus the Bluebell round the corner from me is nice enough.

My mate told me they've recently got a new landlord who he knew from a dog-friendly pub, so hopefully he's changed the policy. Previously, they were only allowed in the outside bit.