U.K. friends say ‘racist’ nightclub denied them even though they had a reservation

A group of 15 friends had pre-booked a table at a U.K. nightclub, but when they arrived, they were turned away.

Dec 8, 2015

A group of 15 friends had pre-booked a table at a U.K. nightclub, but when they arrived, they were turned away. Now, they say that they were turned away because they are black.

According to the Daily Mail, the group felt they had done everything right, including paying £750 (over $1125) to reserve a table at Cameo nightclub in Bournemouth. They double-checked their booking, checked to make sure their party size was okay and had been ready to enjoy a night out for a male-only party. But despite all this, they were turned away at the door.

Moments later, the group filmed a party of white men being let into the club.

They were dressed nicely and were not drunk, and say they were doing everything right. But the club called police on them.

“We did everything they asked us to do,” Leonard Lionel told the Daily Mail. “We were dressed smartly, we arrived together, as they asked, and we had just come from the hotel, so we weren’t intoxicated. We were told that they didn’t let large groups in, despite knowing that they cater for large hen and stag dos.”

Marcus Leon added that their reviews on the club’s Facebook page describing their experience kept getting deleted. “It wasn’t like a section of the group didn’t have identification, we were dressed appropriately and everything they asked us to do we did. They welcomed our custom and then on arrival when they saw what we looked like we were refused entry,” he said.

The club has apologized and claims to have refunded their money, but Lionel said that no one in the group had been refunded.