Wellington bar says sorry after harassment complaints

  • 26/07/2016
Wellington bar says sorry after harassment complaints

The owners of a popular Wellington bar have apologised for their handling of sexual harassment complaints.

Two separate complaints were made to staff at Vinyl Bar, on Courtenay Pl, with one woman who complained told she should expect such behaviour in a bar situation.

The incident caused a storm on Twitter, with many users demanding an explanation and to fix the situation from the bar's owners.

Co-owner, Leon Magowan-Wilson, says steps have been taken to make sure complaints are handled better in future.

"We've been approached by the Wellington Sexual Abuse Prevention Network, they do a training course specifically for hospitality businesses and so we'll definitely put all of our staff through that," he says.

Mr Magowan-Wilson hopes Vinyl Bar's image can recover following its hammering on social media, and says he's open to suggestions on how they can improve further.

"There's been a lot of Facebook and social media feedback regarding it, and it hasn't all been positive but I think what we'd like to put out there is that we have responded and we are taking it very seriously."

He says it's important all their employees understand sexual harassment is never okay.

Newshub.