This weekend saw the Brewers Arms pub in Worcester have to eject a man after customers noticed the offensive comment on the back of his shirt.
The person in question has now been banned from the establishment.
A photo of the t-shirt, taken by a young woman called Laura on Twitter with the comment “Horrible tw*t I really cannot believe what I am seeing…… #Hillsborough” has been shared widely, with many people condemning the man’s actions.
(Photo via @khfc_laura/Twitter. Now pixellated.)
Upon being notified of the message on the shirt, which said the disaster wasGods way” of helping a pest control company, pub landlord Mark Daniels swiftly ejected the man from the premises and barred him from the pub.
This has devistated me and my family I didn't print buy or wear that discusting shirt I removed him when alerted couldn't do anymore gutted
— Brewers Arms (@the_brewersarms) May 29, 2016
Support has since flooded in for the pub, as well as Laura who highlighted the issue.
Great work by the management and staff to get rid of the lowlife in the anti Hillsborough t-shirt asap 👏👏👏👏👏 https://t.co/xVZixldaP4
— We've Witnessed Glory others can only dream of (@pboro5times) May 29, 2016
No need to give stick to @the_brewersarms, they deserve praise for standing up to ignorance. Sound like good people. https://t.co/hPVXpWkrO3
— Jim Boardman (@JimBoardman) May 29, 2016
Lou Brookes, whose brother Andrew was 26 when he died at Hillsborough, lives in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire as was reported in the Liverpool Echo as not wanting the photo of the man shared. (For this reason we have chosen to follow the Echo’s lead and go with a pixellated version of the photo in this story.)
She said: “I personally don’t like posting the photo. People mean well in sharing it. But when they retweet the photo, with those words, it’s giving him the attention he wants.
“I think he’s a sick individual. It baffles me that he’s gone out of his way to have that printed on a t-shirt and why he’s wasting so much time and energy on our 96, who he obviously has so much contempt for.
“He needs to concentrate on more productive things – he’s obviously got a very boring and sad life to be able to do that.”
Lou added: “The landlord of the pub does not deserve abusive messages because of that idiot going into his pub. He’s now been thrown into the media spotlight and it’s not his fault.”
The man’s actions are a sour note on what should be a positive period. Last month, 27 years on from the Hillsborough disaster, a jury found the 96 who died were unlawfully killed at the FA Cup semi-final. We reported earlier this month the story of survivor Joe Smith met John McMahon, a man who saved his life from Hillsborough.
