Manchester bar defends gender-neutral toilets following intense backlash

A bar and restaurant in the city centre has had to defend itself over its gender-neutral toilets following a backlash on social media.

On Saturday (August 13), a Twitter user shared a photo of a sign taken inside The Refuge, which is located on Oxford Road, which showed directions to gender-neutral and men’s toilets. Captioning the post, the user wrote: “Another bar who believes a woman doesn't belong her own space. But a male does.”

Replying to the thread, one commenter wrote: “We need to stop giving these places custom, simple as. Bars have always wanted to attract female custom - it’s a draw. Don’t give these places custom, they will learn a bit bloody quickly.”

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Another said: “Interesting that one of the rooms is overtly exclusionary, and yet this is considered somehow to be an inclusive practice. Biology's supposed by them to be irrelevant and yet one of the two rooms is strictly defined by biology.”

As of Monday (August 15), the original tweet had received more than 1,500 'likes' and more than 370 retweets. 'I have boycotted places due to this. Absolute abhorrent', one person said. Another described it as 'unadulterated prejudice'.

But, in response to the initial tweet, The Refuge said it does have separate female toilets and the photo was taken of an area where gender-neutral and male toilets were situated.

One reply from the bar said: “We have numerous female facilities onsite too - including the main toilets in the Public Bar itself… There’s space for everyone. Unsure why only this one area has been shared…”

Speaking to the M.E.N, a spokesperson for the bar and restaurant said: "The Refuge takes great pride in providing a safe