Black and Asian landlords are reinventing the British pub – from a Desi bar in Smethwick to a Caribbean boozer in Sheffield. Jimi Famurewa reports
The British pub may be a byword for hospitality – roaring fires, inviting booths, glinting bottles – but it’s a welcome that has not always extended to immigrants. From the “colour bars” of the 1950s and 60s to the Essex pub landlord who, earlier this year, refused to remove an array of ornamental golliwogs from his establishment, ethnic minorities have, historically speaking, had good reason to approach this bastion of British culture warily.
But there is another, lesser-heard story about pubs and the BAME community. Ever since 1965 – when Oliver “George” Berry took over Brixton’s Coach & Horses pub and became London’s first black licensee – non-white Brits have been taking control of the spaces from which they were once excluded, often transforming them into vital cultural hubs in the process.
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