On the first Monday of 2022 a young Palestinian man was refused a job in a bar in Peckham, one of London’s most ethnically diverse areas, reportedly on the grounds of his nationality.
Wael, 26, who moved to London from the Palestinian Territories, has worked in the hospitality industry on and off for a number of years in his home country. Now seeking a part-time job in the UK industry, on Monday, January 3, Wael casually asked at Bar Story Peckham, the supposedly “unfussy, popular bar that has been around since 2003”, if they were hiring. According to witnesses, he was almost immediately subjected to racist and Islamophobic comments by the bar’s owner.
An account of the alleged attack, posted on Instagram by now former bartender at Bar Story, Aphelia, 26, who quit following the incident, went viral this week. According to Aphelia’s account, Bar Story’s owner Ben Sasson, 70, responded “aggressively” when Wael sought a job. Sasson asked why Wael did not have a CV and whether he had bar experience. Wael’s response, that he had bar experience “but only back home”, was dismissed by Sasson. “If it’s not in London it doesn’t count,”. In a reference to the Palestinian Territories, Sasson also told Wael “I don’t know where that is”. He added: “Don’t you mean Israel?”
Sasson, described in Sleek Magazine, a European quarterly on contemporary art and fashion, in 2012 as a “grey-haired, front-tooth missing, paint-covered T-shirt-wearing chap from Fulham”, also reportedly said his bar did “not employ people from Muslim countries”. He is also alleged to have asked Wael if he was “going to bring a knife and stab everyone” and also to have remarked that “you can’t serve alcohol in Palestine, they are all Arabs there, all Muslims, they don’t drink”.
South East London pizzeria Dinner For 100, which has been trading from Bar Story’s kitchen, alongside a site on Telegraph Hill, responded to the alleged incident by posting a statement on its Instagram announcing that it “stands against all forms of discrimination” and it is are ceasing its partnership with Bar Story “with immediate effect”. Bar Story has remained closed since Thursday, January 6, and according to its neighbouring bar, Peckham Rivera, severe damage has been made to the venue since the posts about the incident went viral.
There has been a widely followed and animated discussion on social media about the alleged incident that with many people sharing messages of disgust at Sasson’s alleged behavior as well as in support of Wael and former Bar Story staff. Dulwich Hamlet FC has tweeted its support as well as an offer of work to Aphelia and other former members of staff.
The longer-term fallout of the alleged incident is unclear. If the incident occurred in the way it has been recounted on social media, Sasson may have breached Britain’s 2010 Equality Act. However, there has been no police statement as yet. Sasson has not yet issued a statement and appears to have taken down Bar Story’s website and social media.
