Four people ‘brutally beaten’ by ‘violent’ bouncer at queer pub with one man left hospitalised

A bouncer allegedly assaulted four people outside east London queer pub The Queen Adelaide in an attack that left one victim hospitalised.

Matthew Riley, a Hackney-based podcaster working in the LGBT+ housing and charity sector, claimed on Twitter that security staff at The Queen Adelaide set upon him and other pub-goers in the early hours Saturday (29 January).

His boyfriend, he said, was left swollen and bloodied with internal facial bleeding and a broken nose that requires surgery following the incident on Hackney Road that left them both deeply rattled.

The Metropolitan Police Service confirmed to PinkNews that the capital city’s force was called to the tavern at 1.05am.

An 18-year-old man was arrested at the scene, the spokesperson added, “on suspicion of assault”.

“It was reported that a member of security staff had assaulted a number of people outside the venue,” they said. “Enquiries into the circumstances continue.

Anyone who witnessed the incident or who can assist the investigation is asked to call police on 101 or tweet @MetCC and quote CAD486/29Jan.”

Birthday drinks end with at least one queer man beaten and bloodied outside Queen Adelaide

In a shaking end to birthday drinks, Riley, who together with Brendan Geoghegan hosts the Bottoming Podcast, reported that a “homophobic and violent” doorman accused “one of us of touching their bum on leaving”.

The security guard, he claimed, “then assaulted four people – three punches to the face and one push to the floor”.

Experience at the @QueenAdelaideE2 this evening; resulting in 1 arrest of the bouncer, poor venue security response, 4 assaults and mediocre-at-best police response.

To say I am furious would be an understatement, and I expect 1000% better from queer venues in London. pic.twitter.com/rzPubafQvR

— Matthew (@mtthwrly) January 29, 2022

“Experience at The Queen Adelaide this evening; resulting in one arrest of the bouncer, poor venue security response, four assaults and mediocre-at-best response,” he added.

“To say I am furious would be an understatement, and I expect 1,000 per cent better from queer venues in London.”

When pressed about law enforcement’s “mediocre” response, the Metropolitan Police spokesperson did not comment.

Richard Battye, the pub’s landlord, sought to stress to PinkNews that the incident involved no staff employed by The Queen Adelaide. It had instead been provided by Scanner Security, a Norwood-based security firm.

“We’re reviewing our choice of security suppliers in light of this,” Battye said. “Our previous security firm moved over to provide security for the healthcare sector during the lockdowns and have left venue security although.

“We are required to have security by law, by the condition of licence. It is not an area that seems to attract many queer people and those it does are highly sort after.

“Their role, one would hope, is to work with a venue to protect customers. It would seem this hasn’t happened and I am mostly concerned for anyone injured.”

Scanner Security’s managing director Gary Devonshire told PinkNews that the security staffer provided was “from a reserve new member of staff who was on an initial trial period” after the “regular gay [Security Industry Authority] door supervisor had cancelled his shift last minute”.

A “100 per cent gay-owned and managed” business, Devonshire said the company was established three decades ago with protecting queer spaces in mind.

“We have been devoted to these particular needs from the beginning and have been so proud of such unblemished record for such a long time,” he said, adding that 80 per cent of Scanner Security’s workforce is LGBT+.

“We are thoroughly reviewing all our internal recruitment procedures and security allocations to ensure incidents of this nature never happen again.”

Just last month (22 January) a gay man was allegedly beaten at the hands of “five bouncers” at Bloom nightclub in Manchester.