02 May 2023 , 09:00
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A businessman and his pensioner pal have told of their fury after they were kicked out of a Wetherspoons pub when they were wrongly accused of taking drugs.
Mark Greenfield and his friend Keith Meredith, 71, were sat in the beer garden when they were confronted by the duty manager.
The member of staff of The Thomas Waghorn in Chatham, Kent, accused the two men of smoking cannabis and told them they would have to leave.
Mr Greenfield said: “We had about a mouthful of beer when we suddenly looked at each other and could smell cannabis or something along those lines.
"We both said how disgusting it was. The smell was awful.
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“Then, after a few minutes, the manager came out with a colleague and said we had to go because two of her staff said we have been smoking drugs. I told her she had to be joking.
“It caused a commotion. I looked around and she stole our pints. I told her she had it wrong, I am a respected guy.”
Things escalated when the manager said that Mr Meredith, who is recovering from a triple heart bypass, had been spotted sitting at a table and rolling a joint the previous day.
But the dumbfounded duo said this was his first-ever visit to the pub and that neither of them smoked nor did drugs.
Mr Greenfield added: “That was the icing on the cake.
“She said ‘I want you to leave’ and I said ‘we had done nothing wrong’ but we left for our own safety after other customers started to get involved. She marched us to the gate and we left.”
Mr Greenfield, who runs a popular boot fair, phoned the pub when he got home last Friday afternoon to complain. He was told by the manager her staff had made a mistake.
The dad-of-three responded: “What do you mean it was a mistake? The embarrassment of it all, it was absolutely ridiculous. I thought this is just too much.”
He added: “It was like something from Jeremy Beadle. I just could not believe it.
"When she came across, it was so unexpected.
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“It was embarrassing, there was other people in the garden, everyone was looking. It was just totally embarrassing.
“For me I am a local businessman, I run car boot fairs. I know hundreds and hundreds of people and to have people think Mark Greenfield got escorted out of a pub because he was accused of taking drugs is just absolutely too much.
“I am a father - what parent would want that? To have their children think their father got escorted out of a pub. It is absolutely ridiculous.
“I just thought it was wrong. I was fuming. I wanted to take my mate out for a little treat after his triple heart bypass and then we had that.
“I have never experienced anything like this in my life before, it is absolutely disgusting.”
After their discussion on the phone, Mr Greenfield was banned from returning to the pub in the future.
A Wetherspoon spokesman admitted the pair were wrongly identified, adding: “We have a zero-tolerance approach to drug use and any customer who we believe may have been using drugs will be immediately asked to leave.
“Unfortunately, Mr Greenfield was wrongly identified as having been using cannabis.
"It was only afterwards it became clear he had been wrongly identified. Mr Greenfield subsequently phoned the pub to discuss the incident.
“The duty manager apologised for the error but, unfortunately, he became personally abusive to her, in light of the comments made, he was asked not to return to the pub.”
In Mr Greenfield’s formal complaint, he said: “I do not wish to enter your establishment ever again after the way we were treated.
“If your manageress implies I was abusive she is more than correct. I would like to add I was absolutely fuming of being accused of taking drugs on the premise, without her having any evidence and no I will not be apologising for my actions.
“Anyone would have done exactly the same and you should put yourself in my situation.”
Mr Meredith, who’d been looking forward to the lunchtime pint, said: “I want an apology.
"It is the first time I have been in the place and we get escorted out and accused. It upset my stomach. It really upset me.”
Both men said the manager should have checked the CCTV before wrongly accusing them.
Mr Greenfield added: “All I was doing was bringing Keith out for an hour or so to give him a bit of pleasure and get him out of flat.
"I would like her to know how much it upset both of us.”