Tillings Café in Gomshall, Surrey, received criticism after posting a sign on the premises which read:
“We have baby changing facilities in our spacious disabled toilet. There is also a chair nearby which can be taken inside for mothers who are breastfeeding – we reserve the right to ask groups of breastfeeding mothers to use this facility instead of feeding at the table.”
Social media users were quick to draw attention to the sign, blasting the café owner for the move, which one called “business suicide”.
Another angry patron wrote: “When I first saw your sign telling nursing mothers about your right to request [of them] to nurse in the toilet I thought it was a joke. How disappointed I was to realise it was very serious. This is disgusting, discriminatory and most of all illegal.”
The café’s owner, Jane Radford, released a statement of apology, saying that there had been a “huge mis-communication”.
“Being human we can make mistakes, and if we have offended anyone in trying to establish an option for more private feeding facilities we can only apologise and ask for your help in telling us what we might do to help support the breast-feeding cause,” she wrote.
