In case you missed it, Tommy Robinson and his buddies were kicked out of London steakhouse Hawksmoor last week because staff ‘didn’t feel comfortable’ serving him. Here’s the clip:
Tommy Robinson gets kicked out of Hawksmoor Steak Restaurant on Regents Street, London pic.twitter.com/ZRpS30C0nt
— UB1UB2 West London (Southall) (@UB1UB2) June 5, 2025
Despite a lot of people praising the move, Hawksmoor have also been feeling the heat from those who believe they had no right to turn away custom from Tommy and his party.
Hawksmoor CEO Will Beckett (whose business card Tommy Robinson was handed at the end of the clip) has since issued the following statement via Instagram:
View this post on Instagram
Hawksmoor’s statement reads:
“Our focus is always to give the best restaurant experience to the most people possible.
“On Thursday, a public figure was asked to leave one of our restaurants because guests and staff felt uncomfortable and had complained. The party left peacefully and politely on request.
“This was not about politics or beliefs. Hawksmoor is not a political organisation; we’re a group of restaurants. We want to welcome as many people as possible, regardless of background or views, to our teams or as our guests.
“We’re not trying to engage in a public debate. The team has had to deal with a huge amount of fallout from this, some of which is quite concerning. We would like to get back to focussing on looking after those people, and our guests. Thank you to them, and the many of you who have been so supportive.”
Actually pretty surprising to see Hawksmoor doing a bit of damage control there. I would have fully expected them to be loud and proud about the fact they booted out Tommy Robinson and got a load of press and plaudits over it, but then I guess if you’re the CEO of a restaurant chain you don’t want any group of people (e.g. Tommy supporters) to feel like they wouldn’t be welcome at your establishment.
And so, it’s hard to buy that this ‘was not about politics or beliefs’. Was there something about Tommy and his crew’s behaviour at the restaurant on the day that made guests and staff feel uncomfortable? Or was it because they knew who he was and what he stands for?
Seems like it’s probably the latter, and you might actually respect Hawksmoor if they had doubled down on that with their statement. But hey, I guess Will Beckett has shareholders (Graphite Capital) he needs to answer to and they wouldn’t be happy in the event of a declining customer base off the back of a viral video. Although it did initially seem as though it might be a positive for the brand? I guess time will tell on that one.
Speaking of steak, watch this guy finish off a £60 mixed grill challenge in just 37 minutes. Absolute beast.
