It started with a kiss

2011-04-16 15:47:35

16 April 2011 Last updated at 11:15 Share this page Delicious Digg Facebook reddit StumbleUpon Twitter Email Print Pair ‘overwhelmed’ by response to gay kiss at Soho pub By Andy Dangerfield BBC News, London Jonathan Williams (left) and James Bull said they had not expected to receive so much support Continue reading the main story Related Stories Same-sex 'kiss-in' protest at pub Pub-kiss men 'should have left' Kissing men 'ordered out of pub'

It started with a kiss - on a first date between two men in a pub in Soho, central London's gay heartland.

From that moment, neither James nor Jonathan could have imagined in their wildest dreams the events that would unfold in the next 48 hours.

"The date had been going really well until that point," said James Bull, 23, reflecting on Wednesday night.

But he and Jonathan Williams, 26, said they were thrown out of the John Snow pub on Broadwick Street "for being obscene".

The pair said they were kissing but it "wasn't anything indecent".

However, Dennis Griffiths, ex-president of the Federation of Licensed Victuallers Associations, has said: "If he doesn't like the house rules, don't use the pub."

Mr Williams wrote about the incident on Twitter, the story was picked up by the gay press, and a protest was swiftly organised on social networking site Facebook.

'Magnificent' response

By Friday afternoon, more than 700 people said they would attend a "kiss-in" at the bar in response to the alleged actions.

But early on Friday evening, their plans were scuppered. The pub locked its doors.

However, that didn't deter hundreds of protesters gathering outside the venue just before 1900 BST.

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