Greene King defends trilby ban

Greene King has defended its position after forcing a 64-year-old pub-goer to either remove his hat or face eviction from one of its pubs.

Furious Colin Osborne - who used to work for brewer's Courage - branded the move as "madness" after a barmaid at the Monument in Hereford told him that his trilby was obscuring the newly installed CCTV cameras.

"I was annoyed, I was put out and I was surprised," said Osborne. "I couldn't understand why my poor old trilby should offend anyone.

"I think the brewer should allow managers some common sense. Any manager with a bit of experience - and that's a key word in your industry - can see the signs and spot potential troublemakers."

A Greene King spokesman said that the recently installed cameras were for the safety and security of customers, and had been welcomed by residents and licensing authorities.

"To make it useful we do have to ask all customers to remove their hats, but of course we have sensitivity to individual needs," said Adam Collett, marketing director for Greene King. "In order to remain consistent and fair we ask all customers to observe this policy."

Another spokesperson added that the new guidelines would not affect all of Greene King's pubs, but would only apply to those branches which feature CCTV cameras.

However Osborne, who worked as a PR for Bulmers and Courage during the 1980s, said: "Had I been handling [Greene King's] PR, I'd have taken a more sensible approach."