Wetherspoons boot fuming pensioner out of beer garden over ridiculous drugs row
A fuming pensioner and his businessman pal were both booted out of a Wetherspoons pub over bizarre claims they were smoking weed in the beer garden.
In what turned into a farcical mix-up at the Thomas Waghorn pub in Chatham, Kent, 71-year-old Keith Meredith was accused of having been seen in the pub rolling joints the day before – despite the fact it was his very first visit.
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The pair also weren't helped by a very strong smell of cannabis wafting across the beer garden while they tried to enjoy a pint or two.
OAP Keith and his friend Mark Greenfield were left gobsmacked when they were then confronted by the pub's deputy manager.
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.
“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.”
It was at that point that pub staff accused Keith, who is still recovering from a triple heart bypass, of having been spotted using drugs in the garden the day before.
But the dumbfounded duo insisted this was Keith's first-ever visit to the pub and that neither of them smoked nor did drugs.
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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."
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After that phone call Mr Greenfield was informed he 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.”
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- Wetherspoons
- Cannabis
- Smoking
- Drugs
- Pubs
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