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Guardian reveals evidence of racist door policies at Glasgow City centre nightclubs.


A Guardian investigation carried out this week has revealed evidence of racist door policies at some of Glasgow's most high profile nightclubs.

In controlled tests, adhering to the requirements of the Commission for Racial Equality, a small group of Sikh students wearing microphones were filmed attempting to gain entry to a series of clubs.

Two of the clubs, which cannot be named for legal reasons, rejected the Sikh group with the excuse that the club was full or only admitting regulars, while a control group of white students directly behind them were admitted.

Human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar told Guardian he was not surprised at the findings and had experienced the problem first hand when a Sikh friend he was entering a bar with was turned away‘Glasgow keeps calling itself a multi-cultural city and yet Glasgow City Council has never taken any action on this problem' he said. ‘Clubs operating racist door policies have to be taken to court and have their licences taken away'.

A senior legal practitioner at the Ethnic Minorities Law Centre confirmed that they were also aware of the problem and had received a number of complaints from both Sikhs and Muslims about racist door policies in the City's clubs. Although a number of complainants had been told they had a good case for legal action, they were unwilling to continue proceedings due to the social stigma attached to drinking by their religious communities.

Harry, a 20 year old student at Glasgow Caledonian University says the Sikh community is resigned to the problem. ‘We never get into the clubs that failed the Guardian test. They always tell us that it's “regulars only” but how can you become a “regular” if they never let you in? You can go one, two, three times and get knocked back. The fourth time you can guess what's going to happen, so you just don't bother.

Another student who asked not to be named has had similar experiences. ‘On one occasion I went to one of these clubs with six white friends, they all got in and I got knocked back, they see a Turban and they'll turn you away. As a young Sikh person in Glasgow you can't say ‘we'll go to this club tonight', you just have to say, ‘we'll try and get in''

Kimberly Torrance a Glasgow University law student was shocked on a night out when a Sikh friend from Birmingham was turned away at the door of one of Glasgow's trendiest venues. ‘A group of us who were all white were in the queue and were told we'd just have to wait a minute before going in. But when our Sikh friend crossed the road to join us we were told as a group to find somewhere else to go. I pressed the doorman who told me that one of us was not dressed properly and he pointed out my friend. The excuse was that it was a student night and he was wearing a shirt with white cuffs which they said wasn't allowed. We left, but as we turned away, a group of white men were admitted wearing suits'.

There's a big problem in Glasgow and nobody's tackling it' says a club promoter of Asian origin who found that he was consistently knocked back by clubs he wanted to host in. ‘I just needed to understand what was going on so I pitched an idea to a club. When it was knocked back I got a white friend to pitch the same idea to the same club and it was accepted. Now I know why I was being rejected, I won't keep banging my head against a brick wall'.

A common defence put forward by bar managers in private is that they would be happy to let Sikhs into their clubs but are worried the crowd inside will react badly to them and cause a disturbance. This was firmly rebutted by Aamer Anwar who argued that any difference in admissions to clubs on the grounds of race or religion alone would be illegal.

Harry believes the racism the Sikh community is facing on the club scene is having more far reaching implications than restricting the places they can socialise. ‘Young Sikhs who want to express their faith fully are finding it more and more difficult. They're cutting their hair and taking off their turbans, turning their back on their culture. What's the point for them if they can't get into the places they want to socialise with their friends and they're called Osama Bin Laden on the streets?'


The Guardian test follows a similar investigation of Archaos nightclub in 1999, which resulted in a civil action against club owner, Stefan King. In giving evidence in the case student Naveed Ramzan told the court that after being told he could not go inside because he was not a regular, he went across the road and watched as another 22 coloured clubbers were rejected within 18 minutes.

Mr King


Mr Wotherspoon
The claims were backed up by door steward, Jason Wotherspoon, who testified that he had been ordered by the management to turn Asian people away or face the sack. When he disputed the orders, he was relieved of his job and just days before the case came to court he escaped a potentially fatal hit and run. The unidentified car accelerated at him at great speed making contact with his arm, smashing the car windscreen and the drivers mirror. Despite the testimony of Mr Wotherspoon, the judge threw out the case stating that, ‘There was no evidence whatsoever to suggest that Stefan King had ever given any racist instruction to anyone'.

 

Glasgow MSP Robert Brown said that he was ‘shocked and horrified' that ethnic minorities in Glasgow were experiencing institutional racism on the club scene and has submitted several questions to the Scottish Executive on the issue. ‘I will be demanding urgent action and hope that Glasgow City Council takes this matter extremely seriously.

The Commission for Racial Equality confirmed that if the clubs tested by Guardian were excluding people on the grounds of race, they could be prosecuted under section 20 of the Race Relations Act 1976. Guardian will be forwarding the evidence collected in the tests to the Commission for Racial Equality and the Scottish Parliament later this week.

Have you been a vicitm of a racist pub or club? Then contact the editor@studentunderground.co.uk

Related Links

Commission for Racial Equality:
www.cre.gov.uk

The Stefan King case
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/713639.stm

Explantion of religions
www.multiculturalcalendar.com