West Lothian pub won't be showing Old Firm game due to safety fears and staff being ‘treated like dirt’

A West Lothian pub has said it won’t be screening this weekend’s Old Firm football match due to staff safety concerns.

The Old Post Office, in Linlithgow, said the decision not to show Sunday’s crunch SPL clash between Rangers and Celtic was taken due to the bad behaviour of punters.

In a post on Facebook, the pub’s management said: “It is with regret that we inform you of our decision to withdraw the showing of the Old Firm on Sunday 7th of April. We have waited for a few weeks to confirm whether we will or not, but our decision has now been made.

“This decision has been made thanks to the behaviour of our ‘guests’ on weekends over the past couple of months. As we said back in January, our team will not be spoken to or treated like dirt on your shoe, and since this has not really improved as such, we are taking action to combat this.

“To this end, we will also be immediately reviewing our weekend opening hours, entertainment programme, and large scale events, such as DJ special events and the upcoming Linlithgow Marches. Pretty simply put, we can not grant nice things to people who come and waste it for others.

“It's not easy having to write a post like this, but I simply will not prioritise anything other than my teams safety and wellbeing and the positive experience of my guests. When either of those are compromised, hard decisions need to be made to eliminate these risks.

“To those of you who come every day or week, we thank you for continued support, patience, and tolerance. To those of you who are part of the minority who spoil the experience for others, please take your unwelcome presence somewhere else.”

The pub also appealed for the person who allegedly destroyed a TV in their pool room to pay for damages, warning the customer they were captured on CCTV.

They said: “To the lovely person who destroyed our television in the pool room, we have you on CCTV. We would appreciate you coming forward and paying the damages to replacing it, and when you do, we will issue you a lovely letter with a lifetime ban.”