‘People expect Cornwall to be open 24/7 but we’re not Benidorm’: Café owner claims angry tourist ranted at him for refusing to serve him lunch after 3pm before telling him ‘Cornish people are poor because they are lazy’
- Tourist was trying to buy food at the Holy Mackerel Café in Helford near Helston
- He and his partner were told the kitchen was closed and they could not order
- Chris Dixon, who owns the business, said the man got annoyed before ranting
- He told Mr Dixon Cornish people are poor because they are too ‘inherently lazy’
- Mr Dixon posted onto the café’s Facebook page to make other businesses aware
A café owner claimed an angry tourist ranted at him for refusing to serve him lunch after 3pm before telling him ‘Cornish people are poor because they are lazy’.
Chris Dixon, who owns the Holy Mackerel Café in Helford near Helston, said the man became angry when he ‘demanded’ to be served food despite the café having already closed its kitchen.
Mr Dixon said the man and his partner came in just after the kitchen had been closed and asked for food.
After being told that it would not be possible, he asked staff to have ‘whatever he could see was cooking in the oven’ which was being prepared for another customer who had already ordered.
Mr Dixon said: ‘When we refused to serve him, he got increasingly annoyed before going on a mad rant about Cornish people.
‘He first asked me if I was Cornish and when I said no and asked him if he was he scoffed and said absolutely not.
‘Then he said that Cornish people are so poor because they are too inherently lazy to work and said that Londoners like him keep the Cornish alive.’
Chris Dixon, who owns the Holy Mackerel Café in Helford near Helston, posted a picture of the man (pictured) who he claims ranted at him for refusing to serve him lunch after 3pm before telling him ‘Cornish people are poor because they are lazy’
Mr Dixon said the incident was a regular occurrence for him and continues to make him ‘incredibly angry’.
He said last year’s boom in UK holidaymakers as a result of the Covid pandemic resulted in a particularly bad year in terms of receiving verbal abuse from customers.
Mr Dixon said the man involved in the most recent incident ‘stropped off’ after finishing his ‘mad rant’.
He added: ‘I couldn’t believe how rude he was to us.
‘It’s just going to be another year of it for us but we don’t want it again.
‘People come down to Cornwall expecting it to be open 24/7 but we’re not Benidorm, we’re in Helford which is a small village.
‘We get abuse from people at least once a week but not as bad as that man. I don’t want another repeat of it, it’s too early in the season.’
Mr Dixon said last year’s boom in UK holidaymakers as a result of the Covid pandemic resulted in a particularly bad year in terms of receiving verbal abuse from customers. Pictured: the Holy Mackerel Café in Helford near Helston
Mr Dixon, who said the incident made his ‘blood boil’, posted about it on the business Facebook page to warn other local businesses about the man.
It read: ‘Calling all Cornish businesses. This man abused us in the café today barking that “All Cornish are inherently lazy and that they need Londoners like him to even survive without them we are nothing”.
‘Tell him how you feel about this if he wants to eat or be served in your establishment apparently visits Cornwall a lot and should be treated better? We were closed and obviously didn’t serve him.’
The post has since been shared 60 times and reached thousands of people who have shared their disgust about the situation.
Another local pub said that the man had also verbally abused the staff there.
Krystyna Starr said: ‘This guy came into the Shipwrights today and my daughter served him. He was too late for lunch and said that ‘This is why Cornwall is so poor’. Go back to London.’
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