It’s been open less than a month, but the Laundy family’s Marsden Brewhouse can’t seem to avoid controversy.
Owner Arthur Laundy was forced to defend the pub’s dress code on 2GB yesterday
Outraged locals told The Ben Fordham Show that the pub in Sydney’s north-west had posted a sign refusing entry to people wearing specific Nike shoes, male satchels or bumbags, and “offensive clothing”.
The venue also banned all “tradie wear”, including work boots and Hi-Vis clothing, after 6pm.
Laundy said: “When I found out about it this morning, it was pulled down immediately.
“I have no idea who put it up there, evidently I’ve since found out. There are some of the guys, the guys who wear their caps back to front, ‘eshays’ have been around the front of the hotel, just being intimidating.
“Security have moved them on, whether it has anything to do with that I’ve no idea.’’
Laundy said the pub was a “family hotel”, adding: “As far as dress codes go, as long as they’re reasonably dressed, I have no problems with dress codes. I own a lot of hotels, I don’t have dress codes in a lot of those.”
“Eshays” is a derogatory slang word for Australian lads.
In March, the pub was forced to apologise before its grand opening for a disclaimer on its menu that stated: “Please be advised that we do not allow alterations to our menu. Our menu contains nuts, gluten and other allergens, please take this into consideration.”
The brewhouse’s Facebook page quickly attracted 4000 comments, mainly complaining about the policy.
“They are here for the community except for people with allergies! People with allergies can go to hell,” one Facebook user wrote.
“It appears this place is incapable of proper food handling if you can’t cater for the need of people with food allergy. Discriminating against those who have an auto immune life threatening condition is hardly community minded. Anaphylaxis is not a life style choice it is a medical condition,” another comment read.
The hotel later apologised on its Facebook page for the confusion.
“The Marsden Brewhouse team would like to apologise for the below poorly written disclaimer on our menu which presented some ambiguity,” the post read.
“We would like to clarify that we already have 19 Vegetarian/Vegan Options and 19 Gluten Free Options on our menu and will where possible assist with other allergic requests.
“However we cannot 100% guarantee that we are totally allergen free.”
