CLAIRE BULLIVANT
If the whispers are true, if, indeed, a clutch of self-styled moral arbiters in aprons and trendy trainers refused to serve the Vice President of the United States because they found his politics distasteful, then The Bull at Charlbury has achieved something quite remarkable.
It has managed to turn the ancient British art of hospitality into a circus act of petulance and moral preening.
Once upon a time, a public house was exactly that: public. You walked through the door, ordered a pint, and were judged only on your thirst, your manners, and your ability to pronounce “Worcestershire” without injury.
Politics were left outside with the umbrella stand. But now? Now we have “woke sommeliers” who will swirl the ideological bouquet of your voting record before deciding whether you are fit to be served.
If this account is accurate, it is nothing short of shameful, as wrong as turning someone away for the colour of their skin, their religion, or who they love. The principle is identical: you are denying service based on identity. In this case, political identity. It’s a litmus test that says you may only dine here if you think as we do.
This is not “bravery.” It’s cowardice with an ugly foam-art heart on top. It is ideological segregation… a social apartheid dressed up in artisan sourdough crumbs. And if we accept it here, we accept the idea that every barista, maître d’, and pub landlord gets to play miniature dictator over who may taste their precious IPA.
The irony is thicker than a Cotswold cream tea. This very same establishment, only weeks ago, rolled out the red carpet for Kamala Harris, former Democratic presidential candidate… no fuss, no moral indigestion. But when the other side of America’s political coin shows up, apparently it’s DEFCON 1 in the quinoa kitchen.
One wonders: will these staff next refuse to serve Brexit voters? Chelsea fans? People who prefer milk chocolate over dark? The slope is not just slippery, it’s been greased with organic olive oil and dipped straight into the absurd.
Thankfully, Vice President Vance will not be left to starve. The Fox in Lower Oddington, recommended by his friend and Brexit stalwart Andy Wigmore, stands ready with open doors and, one assumes, a dining room staffed by functioning adults. That is how you run a business: welcome the guest, take the payment, and let the marketplace of ideas, not the lunch menu, decide the rest.
The Bull has so far declined to comment, which is probably wise. Silence, at least, is more dignified than whatever philosophy lecture they might otherwise print on the back of their drinks menu. But if they are indeed guilty of this absurd political vetting, they deserve every ounce of ridicule they are now receiving, not just from the press, but from the millions of ordinary people who still believe that hospitality means hospitality.
Britain can survive pub food. What it cannot survive is the death of free association at the dinner table. And if that sounds like hyperbole… well, it’s only because the alternative is to accept the notion that our shared spaces should be politically purified. That is not the British way. That is not the human way.
For all its swagger, The Bull has shown it’s more china shop than public house.
This article (A Load of Bull: How a Cotswolds Pub Butchered the Spirit of British Hospitality) was created and published by Conservative Post and is republished here under “Fair Use” with attribution to the author Claire Bullivant
Featured image: trivago.co.uk
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If true, disgraceful. Perhaps The Bull is not for me.