People have offered to take a 76-year-old grandad for a pint after he claims he was refused entry to a Liverpool city centre bar for being "too old".
Anthony Severs, from Vauxhall, was out on Mathew Street on July 25 when he left The Grapes and walked up to Irish bar McCooley's at around 10pm to get a pint and shelter from the rain. However, Anthony said he was left "shell shocked" when he was turned away by a bouncer, who he claims said he was "too old" to come in.
Retired shipbuilder Anthony told the ECHO he had not experienced anything like it in his near-60 years drinking in Liverpool city centre.
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Anthony, who has a daughter and grandchildren, said: "I’d just come out of The Grapes - it was raining and I’d been soaked. I don’t live far from town and without the buses (due to the ongoing Arriva strike ), I was walking home.
"But because it was raining, I thought I'd go into McCooley's just to dry off and have a drink. I got up the stairs to go in, but a bouncer said I couldn’t come in. I asked why and she said I was too old.
"I said ‘that’s discrimination’. She then said nothing. I just walked away, I was shell-shocked."
Anthony continued: "How would it make you feel? It was only when I walked away that it hit me. I thought ‘hang on - too old?’.
"I was shocked, I’ve been drinking around town for 60-odd years and nothing like this has ever happened before. People might laugh - being told you're too old - it's not on."
Anthony, who said he drinks around Mathew Street because he tends to bump into people he knows, spoke to his daughter after the incident. She told him to get in touch with McCooley's in order to complain. After doing so, Anthony said he was then told to contact the firm the bar employs to provide security staff.
He explained: "When I got my head together, I went down to McCooley’s and they said it wasn’t down to them, it was down to the security firm. I said that I wanted a personal apology, because she kept me out personally."
The ECHO has contacted the security firm and a spokesperson for McCooley's for comment.
ECHO readers were shocked and upset after reading Anthony's story, with one man calling the security worker's actions "a disgrace".
Bobby.B said: "This is a disgrace, it is discrimination. This Bar should be boycotted by everyone in Liverpool. Until the man receives an apology and deserved compensation."
Nora Wenton said: "How dare they, Tony has been drinking in town longer than they’ve been alive."
Ronald Johnson said: "A boycott seems an appropriate punishment for this calculated shocking and demeaning behaviour."
Barry Lithgow said: "How cruel and probably a good part of there customers are tourists who are getting on a bit. Talk about bad business practice."
Susan Elizabeth said: "What happened to respect your elders? Anthony mate I’ll take you for a pint, I hope you get all the beer you deserve."
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