Gay chair of Young Labour caught up in altercation outside Liverpool bar
By Will Stroude
The chairman of a London Young Labour and gay journalist Benjamin Butterworth has been caught up in a brawl outside Walkabout in Liverpool.
Yesterday (September 28), Butterworth tweeted that, as he was returning to the venue for his coat on September 27, the staff beat him up, leaving him bleeding in the street.
https://twitter.com/benjaminbutter/status/781101655312007168
He told the Liverpool Echo: “I knocked on the door and said I’ve left my coat inside. The guy at the door asked if I’d handed it in, to which I said no.
“I asked to go in and have a quick check anyway, then all of a sudden he just pushed me down the stairs outside.
“Three others came from inside the bar and started kicking me in the head.
“My lips and gums were bleeding, they’re swollen and cut and I’m really sore today. Luckily no teeth fell out.
“When it was over they all went back in and locked the door. I was just on the floor completely shocked. I got up and went to Burger King around the corner so I could wash my mouth.”
However, representatives from the bar in question have refuted the claims, saying Butterworth in fact attacked a staff member after they refused to let him back into the venue.
“At approximately 5am on Wednesday morning two customers who had been in the bar during the evening came back after closing looking for a lost coat,” a spokesperson said.
“Upon learning that the coat was no longer there, one of the men tried to force his way back into the bar. When he was told he could not enter, he attempted to attack a member of Walkabout’s staff and was held back by other staff members and asked to leave.
“We are taking this attack on our staff very seriously and have a comprehensive zero tolerance policy towards violence. We will not tolerate abuse, threats or physical attacks on staff or customers, and have reported this incident to the police.
“As this is now a police matter, we cannot comment further at this stage, but we will be sharing our CCTV footage with the police in order to help them with their investigations.”
Merseyside police have said: “We received a report at 5.45am this morning of a man alleging an assault outside Walkabout. He didn’t receive medical treatment or an ambulance and police are now investigating.”