The accusations came before the bar even officially opened
A new city-centre bar has issued a statement after it was accused of being discriminatory. Located on Stanley Street, The Benidorm Bar opened its doors last weekend but received a backlash from certain members of the LGBTQ+ community before doing so.
The venue, which used to be Social, is based on the hit ITV show and has nods to the characters throughout. Customers are told to “frig off” by Madge Harvey when they approach the fire exit door, and they are greeted by Joyce Temple-Savage and Lesley Conroy when they head for the toilet.
However, able-bodied employees of the venue, owned by Linda Gold, who also runs FunnyBoyz in the Baltic Triangle, were accused of mocking the disabled community by driving a mobility scooter – similar to Madge. Drag performer Sister Fanny, from Fazakerley, said social media posts made by the bar that included the mobility aid were “in very poor taste”. The Benidorm Bar insists “the (posts) were vital” to keep the conversation around the disability community going.
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Sister, a 33-year-old activist, told the ECHO: “The line has been crossed. For a venue that is inaccessible, to purchase a mobility aid and then carry it up flights of stairs, to be used as a prop in a comedy act, is a slap in the face of disabled people who rely on them.
“A mobility scooter or wheelchair user who wanted to go into the venue would be unable to enter due to the stairs, but knowing there’s a mobility aid being used by able-bodied people in there for a joke just makes it so much more insulting.”
Sister, who spoke to the ECHO on behalf of a group of disabled Liverpool-based performers, explained they use a walking stick and a wheelchair because of their Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and fibromyalgia.
They added: “When people become disabled, it’s difficult mentally to get used to the fact that there are places you can’t go because they’re inaccessible, and there is so much stigma around young people using mobility aids, it’s a real hurdle. I barely left my house for two years because I felt I’d face stigma for using a stick or wheelchair to get around. It took a long time for me to become confident with that.”
Michael Murphy, the Whiston-born man behind the drag ego Linda Gold, said he fell in love with the character of Madge and how she lifted the stigma that comes with disability. With this in mind, the entrepreneur claims they felt it was their “duty to continue this normalisation for as long as possible”.
He said: “I recall seeing people in my younger days being ostracised for having disabilities. These days using mobility scooters is a part of life. Whilst I don’t condone abled-bodied people using scooters, I do strongly believe that keeping this image in the public eye is vital, nobody should be ashamed of using a mobility aid like many were back in my younger days.”
Echoing a similar sentiment, David Bamber, the chief financial officer of Benidorm, added: “We purchased a broken mobility scooter from a relative who used the money to buy a new one and decided to use it as a symbol to pay homage to the Madge character. Carrying it downstairs to the Benidorm Bar took four strong men. We could only imagine how hard life is for disabled people, but this challenge really got people talking on social media, so it worked.
“This is the message we intend to get to the ‘powers that be’ – whilst we accept it’s not easy to make a change, we need to start somewhere to make life fair for all queer people, not just able-bodied ones.”
The posts have now been removed from The Benidorm Bar’s Instagram accounts and the employees involved also issued their own personal apologies via their social media platforms.
