Landlord who barred Tommy Robinson from popular Bedford pub hit by fake reviews

A popular Bedford pub that has been part of nights out in the town for generations has been hit by a wave of negative online reviews after the landlord told far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who uses the name Tommy Robinson, that he was not welcome.

In a YouTube Shorts video posted by the account WorkingClassPatriot1, the landlord of The Rose on the High Street is seen calmly asking Robinson, who was at the pub with friends for a night out on Monday (29 December), to leave.

Robinson, speaking off camera, repeatedly asks for a reason without success. Under UK law, a licensee can refuse service to anyone without having to give a reason.

The landlord tells him he is “from Luton” and “knows exactly who you are” and that “I don’t feel you need to be in my pub”.

Robinson continues to press for an explanation, making unverified claims about other customers. The landlord replies, “I’m not going to ruin your night, you can go wherever you like, but I don’t want you in my pub. It’s that simple.”

Robinson then asks several times for the landlord’s name, before saying: “I’ll find out… I’ll know by tomorrow.”

A member of the pub’s door staff then steps in and continues speaking with Robinson before the video ends.

A second longer video, posted shortly afterwards to the same account, appears to show a group of people, including Robinson, arguing with the landlord and other staff outside after being refused service.

While both incidents appear to have ended peacefully, police officers also seem to have attended. Shortly before the video ends, a voice off camera can be heard threatening, “I’m going to shut down your pub. Watch.”

At the time of publication, there was no comment about the incident on Robinson’s X (Twitter) feed, which he appears to use as his central social media platform.

As a responsible newspaper, we have chosen not to link directly to the videos. However, there is enough information in this article for readers to find them if they wish to see them for themselves.

Fake reviews

Since the clips were posted, The Rose has been targeted with a stream of negative online reviews that appear to have been coordinated by Robinson supporters.

Several of the reviews appear to have been made by people from all over the country, with some openly showing they’re as far away as Lincolnshire and Scarborough.

One even claims to have also been “thrown out” for their “personal political views”.

None of the negative reviews left after the incident, seen by the Bedford Independent at the time of publication, includes any evidence that the writers were genuine customers of the pub.

Responding on social media, Cllr Henry Vann, leader of the Bedford Borough Liberal Democrats, wrote on his Facebook page, “It is pretty disgusting to see a small-minded fascist’s mates trying to pile on bad reviews for a popular local pub just because he wasn’t served there.”

He went on to urge people who have actually visited The Rose to leave an honest review and added, “Please do support The Rose if you can.”

Robsinson rejection

Robinson faced a strong local backlash in September after making “recklessly dangerous” comments about Queen’s Park communities on a podcast hosted by a Bedford businessman.

Speaking on the self-titled Peter McCormack show, he made claims about drug supply in the area and how it was linked to communities in Queen’s Park.

He gave no evidence to back up his claims, and at no point during the interview was he pushed to provide any.

Read: Community leaders hit back at “recklessly dangerous” comments about Queen’s Park community

At the time, Bedford Borough Labour Group, which has two of the three councillors for Queen’s Park, said Robinson’s comments showed him to be someone who thrives on “division and hate”.

The Mayor of Bedford, Tom Wootton (Conservative), also criticised the comments. He said: “All communities in Bedford make a positive contribution to our Borough and attempts to unfairly single out any group risk damaging cohesion.”

We have contacted Stonegate Group, which owns The Rose, to request a comment from both the company and the landlord. We have also contacted Bedfordshire Police and attempted to contact Stephen Yaxley-Lennon for a comment.