A Palestinian man was allegedly refused employment at a popular Peckham bar because of his ethnicity.
Ben Sassoon, 70, who owns Bar Story, a cocktail bar under a Peckham Rye railway arch, allegedly refused to employ 26-year-old Wael on January 3. The interaction was witnessed by Aphelia Jones, a worker at the bar. Jones, 23, quit after Wael was refused the job.
She said: “Wael approached Ben to ask if any jobs were available. Wael spoke about his employment history in Palestine. Ben stated that if he hadn’t worked in London his work doesn’t count.” She added that the conversation became more heated and that Sassoon said, “but if you’re going to say you’re from Palestine it’s no good”.
Jones claimed that she was “not surprised” by Sassoon’s behaviour. She said: “A month previous to this Ben told me that he wanted a ‘gay night’ (and) he claimed that he only wanted ‘gay men and no gay women’.”
Since the alleged incident with Wael, Jones has shared her account on social media. She says she wants to raise awareness of racial prejudice. Her posts have prompted an outpouring of similar stories. Some people have reached out to both Jones and Wael.
Wael said: “I’ve spoken to mostly women who have had similar experiences where they’ve shared their experience of sexism, homophobia, islamophobia and racism.”
Dinner for One Hundred, a food supplier to the bar, has also spoken out on social media, saying “they stand against all forms of discrimination”. On January 7, the supplier said it would cease to work with Bar Story with immediate effect.
Wael, Jones and Dinner for One Hundred have also received support on Twitter.
Bar Story’s social media accounts have remained quiet on the matter and its Twitter page is now set to private.
London, one of the world’s most multicultural cities, is Britain’s most ethnically diverse region. Official data shows that 40.2 per cent of London “residents identified as belonging to either the Asian, Black, Mixed or Other ethnic group”.
However, according to anecdotal accounts, incidents similar to the one alleged to have occurred in Peckham are still common.
In 2017, glass was thrown in a man’s face in a Peckham pub The Kentish Dovers, in what was classed as a homophobic attack.
