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Euro 2020

05th Jul 2021

Woman refused entry to bar for wearing England top after Euros

Kieran Galpin

Dress code? Or lack of pride?

Hayley Mortimer, a BBC Politics reporter, claims she was denied entry to multiple bars because she was wearing an England shirt. After the Ukraine v England match, which saw England victorious, Mortimer was repeatedly denied entry to multiple bars in Manchester.

Hayley turned to where all us Millennials turn, Twitter! She wrote the following:

“Nah I can’t believe no one is letting me into any bars in Manchester because I’m wearing an England top.

“Fuming, where’s the pride?”

Though many have rallied around her, others have criticised Mortimer for overlooking apparent dress codes.

“No football colours” is a really common dress code for pubs. Stops fights.”

Still, Twitter users did not lead up, with one saying:

“It is called dress code. If your clothes don’t meet their requests, they are within their rights to refuse you entry. End of the day, it is private property, with public access, that you are trying to enter, but they can remove your permission to enter at anytime.”

“I reckon it’s because you’re too drunk and are behaving like a hooligan tbf,” writes Steph.

Paul, however, did not mince his words, and judging by the Scottish flag in his bio, he is not a supporter of England. “Most decent places won’t let you in if you’re wearing colours.. let alone the rag you were kitted out in!”

We reached out to Hayley, and she was kind enough to offer some more information:

“After the game, we tried a couple of bars in Northern Quarter but they said I couldn’t come in because I was wearing an England top. They were nice bars so I totally understand the dress code rules but there were so many people out wearing England shirts who were all in a great mood and wanted to continue the night so lots of people would have been in the same situation.”

You’d think having experienced a dreadful year for sales; bars would be begging to take people in. But don’t fear, Hayley’s night was not ruined:

“It didn’t ruin the night though, we ended up in a bar on Canal Street to carry on the celebrations, but I hope places will be a bit more relaxed about the dress code on Wednesday if England reach the final, because I’ll be wearing my England top again and will probably have my face painted too!”

England walked away with a staggering 4-0 victory over the weekend, with Kane scoring two, Maguire one and Henderson one. The Three Lions will now head to Rome, where they will face Denmark, who have performed well amid Christian Eriksen’s unfortunate health complications. Here’s to hoping Hayley gets to wear her shirt and get sloshed too!