Halfway To Heaven — Restaurant in London

After many years of having been here prior, as a straight, British born man of Asian origin, this was a place that felt entirely safe and comfortable. I'd previously frequented the upstairs pub and the downstairs bar over my years studying in London before graudating and it becoming a firm favourite in my regular places to go in the area.

However, a few years ago, whilst showing some around a friend visiting from America and accompanied by my girlfriend and a gay friend of ours, we popped in for a cabaret show downstairs. We had had a few drinks prior but nothing that put us so far over the edge for what occured next.

Having been left alone for a solid 30 or so minutes, out of nowhere the bouncers/security had suddenly decided I had done something wrong. I was physically and forcefully removed from my seat, with all accompanying me protesting greatly. No reason was given for why I was being removed, I had not behaved out of sorts at all, simply came in to support what I thought was a decent venue.

Being stood outside, I was understandably angry and frustrated and got into a heated argument with the bouncer/security. They refused to give me any reason as to why I had been kicked out and in frustration I hit the wall next to the door. The bouncer/security proceeded to use this as an excuse to phone the police, lie about what had happened (claimed I had broken the window of the establishment next door). This resulted in the Police falsely arresting me and holding me overnight due to my struggling to remain uncuffed.

Massive trauma, an unfair amount of physical restraint and a variety of issues later and I can confidently say that I strongly agree with all accusations of racism, discrimination and an attitude of 'If we don't like you, you're out.'

Simply put, I'll continue to warn all friends across all communities what a terrible and awful establishment this has become. Never have I been so poorly treated as a Londoner, patron of the place or...

Was our first time in this place, I took my friend because I’m white and western and he is Arab - I love drag shows I have been to them all over the world and I wanted him to experience one, however I’m afraid this may be his last time at one, we are both so visibly older than 21, I’m 27 in fact and have a beard and so does my friend, the security staff asked my Arab friend how old he was and asked to see some ID but did not ask me, I understand this is procedure but this was only the start of it. We went in and went downstairs to see a lady performing last night to my knowledge she wasn’t a drag act just singing, it was entertaining at the start but she finished with her own parody song of “shallow” by lady gaga. Which was ok but she spent maybe 10 seconds interacting with people from the crowd - but with us she stood in front of us and made jokes for over 2 minutes, as people continued to laugh my friend felt very VERY uncomfortable and singled out - she was just singing to us the entire time. Sure he’s from a different culture and not used to these shows, but I am and I felt she could’ve moved on from us. My fried felt it was racially motivated and was felt very annoyed about the whole thing. I’m very disappointed in my community that you weren’t able to host LGBT travellers and read the room when making people extremely uncomfortable. On top of that staff was just shouting at people, telling people to move up and barking orders at customers. Very...

I've visited once in a while for 10 years and it hasn't changed much. There are two bars, one on the ground floor (a typical old fashioned pub, with the original features mostly intact) and the other in the basement (dated, dirty, dance floor, stage for drag shows). The staff are either freindly or inhospitable (borderline offensive) depending on whether you are a regular or not. They easily hold up the service so they can chat and laugh with their regular customers, or they can just do everything else apart from serving the only customer at the bar because they don't know the customer, or they don't like the look of him. There is a certain air of reverse snobbery in the place that extends well to the regular patrons (i.e., the cusotmer doesn't look "down-to-earth" enough to be made to feel welcome). The patrons are a mixed bag as well. Predominantely gay and mainly older guys - some are your average guy, polite, mindful, not too drunk. Others have been in the bar since noon and are completely drunk and disorderly by the time you arrive at 8pm - bar staff will carry on serving these patrons. You unfortunately have to expect a certain level of physical contact that would be considered sexual harrassment in any other place. It's OK for an early eveing drink in the middle of the week when there are very few people around, but that's the...