Ship & Anchor Pub turns off social media comments after "intolerant and hateful exchanges"
The Ship and Anchor Pub in Calgary has temporarily turned off the option to comment on their social media posts following “intolerant and hateful exchanges.”
After Premier Jason Kenney announced on Tuesday that the province would be lifting the Restrictions Exemption Program (REP), Alberta’s version of a vaccine passport, at 11:59 pm on February 8, the Ship & Anchor decided to go in a different direction.
The iconic 17th Ave hotspot felt that, while these measures were clearly a step in the right direction, it left little time for businesses to respond appropriately, inform their staff, and change their operating procedures.
“We are choosing to hit pause on removing the REP while we consult our staff, assess customers’ comfort levels, and wait on the city’s response,” read the Instagram post.
“[We] feel that it would be wiser to ease out of restrictions with the REP in place while removing other restrictions ahead of it, such as mingling, table caps and curfews,” the post also said.
“We appreciate your support while we take the time to make the right decisions for our staff and customers on moving forward,” stated the Instagram post from The Ship and Anchor.
Following their announcement, the pub saw an onslaught of social media comments, including some “intolerant and hateful exchanges.” This has led the Ship to turn off commenting on their social media posts “for the time being.”
The Ship and Anchor informed their followers of this in an Instagram caption alongside a post that further explained their decision to not lift the Restrictions Exemption Program requirement for pub patrons just yet.
“Given that we were provided less than 24 hours to respond to recent changes, we chose to pause and take the opportunity to discuss how we move forward, assess the comfort level of staff, and make operational adjustments accordingly,” said the Ship.
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The post goes on to say that the Ship and Anchor plans to remove the REP on March 1, given that the COVID-19 situation doesn’t get any worse prior to that date. “We have taken a cautious approach throughout the pandemic. Knowing we have immunocompromised patrons and staff, we felt it important to provide advance notice before removing of the REP,” the post reads.
“Please DM us for any feedback you may want to share,” invites the Ship.
Other Calgary restaurants have also chosen to leave the REP in place for the time being, including Winebar Kensington, which led to the establishment receiving many negative Google reviews from those who disagreed with this choice.
With files from Hogan Short
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