Two men sitting in a Canary Wharf Starbucks were minding their own business, snogging each other, when some easily-amused girls (we know the type) decided it would be fun to bang on the windows of the Starbucks. The watchful Canary Wharf security guard decided to take action... but not by reprimanding the obviously ghastly window-knockers. Rather, the snogging men were accused of "causing a commotion", and ordered to stop.
The kissing couple complained to the Canary Wharf Group and Pride London, and the story was reported in the Pink Paper (who still don't have a proper web site — sort this out, people!) and here. The CWG replied, according to the Pink Paper: "Similar steps would have been taken with any party causing a disturbance in the mall. Canary Wharf treats everyone with equal respect and we expect our visitors to do the same." Uh, non sequitur much?
We can't help but wonder, though, if the security guard wasn't actually objecting to the men kissing per se, but rather to the fact that anyone was showing evidence of human emotion in the Canary Wharf Starbucks at all. We remember what it was like to be young and in love, of course, but feeling romantic in a Starbucks seems hard, and experiencing any warm feelings at all in Canary Wharf is even harder. In a Starbucks in Canary Wharf, we doubt we'd be able to feel anything except soul-crushing despair.
That said, if anyone wants to organize a classic early-90s-style kiss-in, we're up for it.
Photo courtesy of artant's flickr photostream.
