The Lowdown: Ibrahim Dogus
The Labour councillor for Lambeth London Borough Council and founder of the British Kebab Awards?
Stop Googling things...
Sorry. Why are we talking about him?
Born into a Kurdish refugee family from Turkey, the waiter turned politician and restaurateur has added an anti-Brexit, pro-immigration message to his customer’s bills - and has received death threats and general abuse from far right groups.
What a time to be alive... What was the message exactly?
“Brexit is bad. Immigrants make Britain great. They also cooked and served your food today.” The memo - which the vast majority of those in the hospitality business will agree with - appears on bills at Dogus’s three restaurants, which are all located in and around Westminster.
How many threats has he received?
Quite a few by the look of it. Far right groups have been using social media to encourage their members and others to attack his businesses. There have been threatening phone calls to staff and outright racist messages on social media including “discusting (sic) giving jobs to immigrants” and unfounded accusations of illegally employing foreign workers.
Is it damaging his business?
There have been fake reviews left on Google Business, Facebook and TripAdvisor. The latter has been forced to suspend reviews of Dogus’ Westminster Kitchen restaurant. While a stream of sweary nutters trying to book tables as Tommy Robinson can’t be great for morale, some people have at least come to his and his staff's defence on social media and are encouraging people to support his restaurants.
What’s he doing about it?
He has been in touch with the police to try and keep his staff and premises as safe as possible but - very much to his credit - is sticking to his original plan of keeping the message on bills until the end of January and generally highlighting the unquestionable importance of EU Nationals to the hospitality industry.
