A FAMOUS Glasgow Rangers pub has launched a crackdown on bigoted singing and banned customers from filming on the premises – amid concerns about new hate crime laws.
The Bristol Bar has introduced new measures banning sectarian songs, including anti-Catholic lyrics added to Rangers anthem Simply the Best by Tina Turner.
They have also banned filming on the premises over concerns drunk patrons may get themselves into trouble with their employers or the law if they are recorded singing sectarian songs.
The owner of the Duke Street pub has created leaflets to give to patrons telling them that “customers are now banned from using their phones to record anything within these premises”, saying the new rules had come in after the Hate Crime Act went live on April 1.
He said he feared the pub losing its licence if sectarian incidents were reported to the police and the measures had been introduced after speaking with local licencing officers.
“I just don’t want anyone getting into any bother, I just don’t want the bar, I just don’t want the bad press,” he said.
READ MORE: Ally McCoist 'guarantees' he will breach Hate Crime Act at Rangers vs Celtic game
“Because we’re trying our best and all it takes is one wee stupid f****** thing like this to undo everything I’ve been doing for the last seven months.”
Of the pub’s new filming ban, the Bristol Bar’s owner said a customer had lost his job as an accountant because he was recorded singing sectarian songs.
The leaflets also notify customers that the Bristol Bar operates a “zero tolerance” policy on “sectarian songs, song add ons, or offensive singing”.
Adds ons refer to lyrics added into popular songs sung by football fans. Some Rangers fans add the lyrics “f*** the Pope and the IRA” to Tina Turner’s Simply the Best.
The Bristol Bar’s owner said the pub’s new rules meant that if customers added in those lyrics while the song played, it would be turned off and customers would be reminded of the rules.
“The customers are all great with it, they’re all buying into it,” he said.
The leaflets were produced for Saturday’s “flag day”, where the pub and its surrounds are decked out in Rangers flags from around the world – with customers flying in from far-flung places like Chicago and Australia before the following day’s Old Firm match.
READ MORE: All the key figures as Police Scotland publish report on Hate Crime Act data
The pub’s owner said he was concerned they would be unfamiliar with new hate crime laws in Scotland.
The Hate Crime Act, which came into force on April 1, creates a new criminal offence of stirring up hatred on religious grounds.
Former Rangers player Ally McCoist sparked controversy before the Old Firm when he said he could “guarantee” he and other supporters would be committing hate crimes on the terraces of Ibrox when the team played against Celtic.
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