Friday, February 03, 2012

Top Totty beer removed from Parliamentary bar after complaint

A beer named Top Totty and advertised with a picture of a scantily-clad woman has been withdrawn from a bar in the House of Commons after a Labour MP complained. Shadow equalities minister Kate Green said she was "disturbed" to hear it was on sale in The Strangers' Bar, which is where politicians can take guests.

Commons Leader Sir George Young said "appropriate action should be taken" if "offensive pictures" were on show. A barman confirmed that an hour later the beer had been removed from sale. The beer, brewed by Staffordshire company Slater's Ales, was introduced to The Strangers' Bar in 2007.



It sells for £2.70 pint and one barman said: "We haven't had any complaints raised with our bar staff." During business questions on Thursday, Ms Green, Stretford and Urmston MP, said she had only just learned of it, but felt it should be removed because it had "a picture of a nearly naked woman on the tap". She also called for a debate in the Commons on "dignity at work in Parliament".

In reply, Sir George said he would raise the matter with the appropriate officials, adding: "I would very much regret it if any offensive pictures were on display in any part of the House." A short time later a member of staff in The Strangers' Bar said: "I can confirm it was withdrawn from sale at 1.30pm."

7 comments:

Ratz said...

I hope they replace it it something like "second home" or "fiddling expenses". Let's see how many find that offensive.

Anonymous said...

£2.70 a pint?! Nice to know MPs don't have to pay the £4-odd a pint it usually costs in London.
I suspect they can expense it too.

Gareth said...

@Anonymous drinks are always a lot cheaper in private members bars. Ever been to a working mens club? £2.70 is more than we'd pay for a decent pint in our local club. Indeed it's about the mark for our local pub.

£4+ a pint is a massive rip off no matter how you spin it and the drinkers of London are fools if they pay that much. There is absolutely no way those prices can be justified.

According to CAMRA four months ago the average price in London and the south east was £3.15 while in Yorkshire and the north east it was £2.87. Clearly anybody charging over £4 is making a massive profit.

NelsonsGoodeye said...

Typical New liebore! What a po-faced pc Harridan!

Anonymous said...

Here in the South-West, £3.60 a pint isn't too unusual. I haven't seen a pint for under £3 in a very long time.

soubriquet said...

Top Totty's a good pint. Funny that it seems to have remained unchallenged in that bar since it was introduced in 2007. Which rather suggests that nobody was much offended by it for nearly five years.
Ffs, just bin the pump-clip, or stick a paper cut-out pinny on her.

Ratz said...

In my local it's £3.90 / pint. When I was last back in Northern Ireland I was a bit confused when I paid for a round with a tenner and was still given change!