Charles Lisboa, Assistant Manager at the Coleherne, has won a claim against the pub's new owners for sexual orientation discrimination.

Lisboa joined what was London's oldest gay pub before it became the Pembroke Arms in 2008. The pub's new owners said they wanted to change it from a gay cruising bar to a City gastro-pub.

Soon after the Coleherne reopened as the Pembroke, the pub's owners expressed worries that the clientele hadn't changed. Realpubs, who owned the Pembroke, even put up a sign stating that the pub was no longer gay.

After a number of comments by the pub's owner, including calling customers 'queens' or 'too camp', Mr Lisboa tendered his resignation.

The London Central Employment Tribunal upheld Mr Lisboa's complaint that, by using homophobic language, the pub's owners had treated him in a discriminatory manner. However, he wasn't successful in his claim of constructive dismissal.

Mr Lisboa said:
"I am delighted to have won my case and to have exposed the discriminatory and anti-gay actions of RealPubs."