Matt T

"as if I were a black trying to purchase food in a Mississippi diner in 1955"

Yes, with a claim like that it could only be Carol Gould. After her terrible experiences in Edgware Road on Remembrance Day, now we have her attempt to get a drink in the Green Man pub.

For some reason that to this moment I still cannot fathom, the portly publican refused to give me the time of day and treated me as if I were a black trying to purchase food in a Mississippi diner in 1955...What would possess an Englishman whose establishment is there to serve the public to treat a well-dressed, cheerful and dignified middle-aged woman with such deplorable contempt? Did thousands of Americans die in two European wars to be treated like dirt when they are on these shores? Perhaps the pub landlord thought I looked Jewish. Perhaps he thought I looked like an American who would be demanding. I thought to myself, 'This is what it must have felt like being an African-American in the Deep South in the 1950s.'

So Carol Gould knows not only what it was like to be Jewish in 1930s Germany, but also what it was like to be black in 1950s America, all from her time in London.

Or maybe it was just the pub. From Beerintheevening reviews:

It is in a scummy part of Edgware Road (remember the BBC series about Paddington Green a couple of years ago?). The people at the bar last night were intimidating, shell-suited lager louts. The Guinness in there (it was St Patrick's Day) was vile. The teenage (i.e. under 18) girls and boys made it a thoroughly awful experience. Will not return. Not if you paid me. Crap beer, crap atmosphere, nervous looking landlord serving people who looked like they were on methadone. Rancid.

and:

good atmosphere with friendly locals and good cheap food. the fish and chips was especially good value at 2.99. the only down side was a very unwelcoming landlord, though the bar staff more than made up for him.

or maybe it wasn't:

This is my local pub and my family have been drinking here for well over 30 years. Geoff the landlord is a great bloke but has a no nonsense attitude so if you cause trouble then he will remember your face! The bar staff are constantly changing and you can be guranteed the staff are always going to be funny and welcoming- the landlord wont have moody boring staff at this pub!

Thanks to CB for pointing it out.

ps After last year saying the Labour Party's arrest of Walter Wolfgang as reminding her of the Nazis, she now further burns her bridges with her previous Decent Left admirers even more by also accusing Nick Cohen and Francis Wheen of anti-Americanism.

posted by Matthew @ 4/09/2006 02:11:00 PM Comments: 0