Bar told hair loss sufferer 'take off your cap or leave'

 

April 2005

No-hat policy: alopecia sufferer refused drink

A NURSE who suffers from severe hair loss was mocked by bar staff and refused a drink because she was wearing a hat to hide her bald patches.

Nicole Kennedy, who has alopecia, said staff at Yates’s Wine Lodge in Friar Street did not
bother to ask the details of her condition and were cold and dismissive when she tried to explain why she needed to keep her head covered.

In most cases of alopecia sufferers’ hair falls out in coin sized patches and like many who sufferer from the disease, Miss Kennedy wears a hat when out in public.

The 33-year-old’s complaint to the Evening Post has won the promise of an apology from the operations manager of the national pub chain.

Miss Kennedy, who lives in West Reading and was diagnosed with alopecia when she was two, said: “We walked in and as soon as we approached the bar the lady said ‘can you remove your hat?’.“There were no signs up saying ‘no hats’.

“I said to her quietly that I had a hair problem and I thought she would have clicked on. But she
did not.

“She went off to talk to someone round the back and when she came back they were giggling and looking at us.

“I thought it was bloody rude and insensitive.
“She said ‘take your hat off or you will not get served’ and I just walked out.”

The no-hat policy is in place to stop troublemakers using caps to avoid being identified on CCTV.

Miss Kennedy’s friend Edith Buckle, who was with her in the bar on Saturday last week, said she was “shocked and embarrassed” at the treatment.

She added staff in other pubs had been understanding when Miss Kennedy explained her plight.

After the Evening Post contacted Yates’s Wine Lodge, the company admitted there had been “an
obvious breakdown in communication” and said the operations manager Kevin Alcock would call Miss Kennedy personally.

Spokeswoman Deborah Sadler said: “We do have a policy on the advice of the police to do with any sports-related headwear.

“But we understand this must have been embarrassing and we apologise completely.”

She added: “We treat all our customers fairly and properly. This is not the end of it.”

She offered Miss Kennedy and her friend a free meal and bottle of wine at any of the company’s bars as a goodwill gesture.