Northampton restaurant apologises after illegally refusing access to disabled woman’s assistance dog

A Northampton restaurant has publicly apologised after a woman’s service dog was refused entry into its establishment.

Emma Warren, 26, from Headlands, claims she visited Turkish restaurant Yakut Lounge in Wellingborough Road on Wednesday, April 13 with her mum, friends and assistance dog, Barty, when they were refused entry.

Yakut Lounge, after receiving backlash, apologised on social media and put the incident down to a “staff training oversight.”

Speaking out about the ordeal on Facebook, Emma said that staff treated her “appallingly” and repeatedly refused access, despite showing them Barty’s ADUK ID and explaining they were breaking the law.

Emma told the Chronicle & Echo: “The restaurant made me feel embarrassed, humiliated and upset.

“It’s difficult to even access the general public when you are disabled anyway but these situations make that even harder.

“I can’t describe the feeling to anyone to know that people think it’s acceptable to discriminate and treat you differently because of something you have no control over.”

Emma claims that multiple members of staff, including the head chef, refused to accommodate her and there was no manager onsite.

She alleged that staff told other diners that a customer was bringing her “pet dog” into the restaurant and argued Barty should be removed on account of people’s allergies.

Another customer, Chris Hendersen, refused to pay his bill unless the restaurant served the group.

Eventually, Emma, her assistance dog and the rest of their group were allowed to dine in the VIP section of Yakut Lounge with Chris and his family.

Emma said: “I can't thank Chris enough, I'm so grateful for his actions and for his family allowing me, my friends and my mum to join them.

“I'm also grateful for the support the other customers showed too. I will definitely never forget all of their actions and their kindness.”

Yakut Lounge released a statement on its Facebook page this afternoon, apologising and labelling the incident a “misunderstanding.”

The statement said: “Please accept our sincere apologies for the misunderstanding that happened yesterday evening at Yakut Lounge. We would like to make it very clear that we do not discriminate against anyone who wishes to dine with us.

“Unfortunately, our youngest and most recent staff member ‘who has only worked in restaurants in their own country’ was not made aware that service dogs are allowed in restaurants in the UK. This was a staff training oversight and has already been rectified. The server did attempt to contact the manager for clarity but was not able to speak with him.”

The statement claimed that the restaurant was fully booked and the first table Emma and her assistance dog were seated was “not suitable” and said the dog was “sprawled” across the route service staff took whilst carrying hot food and drinks.

The statement also claimed that staff asked Emma politely to relocate to the VIP room, where there was more space and less of a hazard to guests and staff.

This contradicted Emma’s claim that more than one member of staff was involved in the incident and, despite pre-booking a table, her group was refused access before they were seated.

The statement went on to ask members of the public to pre-notify them of special requirements including access or diet to help them accommodate guests with dog hair allergies.

The Equality Act 2010 prohibits service providers - including restaurants - from discriminating against those, who need an assistance dog with them. It also requires service providers to make reasonable adjustments to disabled customers.

A guide to welcoming customers with assistant dogs produced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission said that refusing to allow access to people with assistance dogs because other people ‘might’ be allergic to dogs is likely to be unlawful disability discrimination.

The Chronicle & Echo reached out to Yakut Lounge and restaurant manager, Mario, said: “I am calling a meeting this evening to take action because I can never allow this to happen. I’ll never allow this.”

Mario told this newspaper that yesterday was his day off and he had been called in this afternoon after hearing about the ordeal.

He said there were three members of staff working front of house yesterday evening and the situation arose after an “inexperienced” waitress wrongly refused Emma and her assistance dog entry. He denied that any other members of staff refused access and he was not made aware of the incident until he came into the restaurant today.

The Chronicle & Echo asked why staff had not received sufficient training and Mario said he will speak to the waitress in question this evening during the meeting so he can find out exactly what happened.

This newspaper asked why a statement was released earlier this afternoon before the manager was made aware exactly what happened. Mario said this statement was posted by their social media manager and he had not seen it before it was posted.

In a private Facebook message seen by this newspaper, Yakut Lounge sent Emma’s mum, Helen, a private message that reads: “The current situation has been dealt with having been blown out of proportion. We do not discriminate against anyone here in Yakut Lounge. We look forward to your booking.”

Mario said he has since reached out to Emma personally. He said: “I want to apologise to her because I find this upsetting. I want her to come in and feel welcome and I can apologise face to face. I will bring my staff to apologise to her and her mum as well.”