A multi-millionaire businessman has bought the Bermondsey Square Hotel in London and has imposed a strict Islamic policy.
In accordance with Sharia law, London’s Bermondsey Square Hotel will no longer be serving alcohol or pork products after a change in management on Tuesday.
The changes happened so quickly that many of the usual clients of the hotel were taken aback when staff refused to serve them alcohol, which was previously voted the UK’s trendiest hotel on Trip Advisor.
The staff at the hotel, dubbed ‘Hotel Sharia’ by the press, are currently unaware of the identity of the new owner but have been told he is from the Middle East.
The Daily Mail reports that an IT consultant who was a regular at the hotel said, ‘A group of us were meant to be meeting in the bar and they said: “We can’t serve alcohol anymore.”
‘When I contacted the manager to ask why, he told me that the new owner wanted it to be a Sharia law hotel. Under Sharia law, you can’t make a profit from alcohol.’
Perhaps more famously for THEGAYUK’s readership, the hotel was the setting to Hotel GB, which starred a host of Channel 4 celebrities, including Doctor Christian Jessen in 2012.
Hotel GB was a TV experiment, which saw the hotel, staffed by a mix of British unemployed trainees in a hope to get Britain working again. Guests had the option to pay or not to pay depending on what they thought of the service.
SHARIA WHAT DOES IT MEAN:
Islam’s legal system, derived from the Koran
Informs every aspect of Muslims’ lives
Islamic jurists issue formal guidance through fatwas, or religious edicts
Sharia law includes provisions for capital and corporal punishment but modern scholars say getting to that stage can be difficult
Marriage is treated as a contract in Islam
From The BBC
BOYCOTT?
Earlier this year the Brunei chain of hotels The Dorchester Collection faced a world-wide boycott, headed by a number of high-profile VIPs including Anna Wintour, after the chain’s owner, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei said he wanted to run this Country under Sharia law – a law that could see LGBT face harsh punishments including stoning.
Robert Holland General Manager and spokesperson for Bespoke said,
‘Bermondsey Square Hotel is still operated by Bespoke Hotels, as it has been since it opened in 2009. We have recently made decisions to change some elements of the business, as any business owner is entitled to do. These are in the best interests of the future of the hotel. We always have, and continue to, welcome guests of all shapes, sizes and denomination.
‘The hotel is privately owned and we do not discuss ownership of the properties Bespoke operates.’
