Facial disfigurement: ‘Restaurant asked me to leave over condition’

A man with a facial disfigurement says he was asked to leave a restaurant in south London because staff said he was “scaring the customers”.

Oliver Bromley has Neurofibromatosis Type 1, a genetic condition that causes non-cancerous tumours to grow on his nerves.

Speaking to the BBC, he said when he had gone to place an order at a restaurant in Camberwell, staff told him there had been complaints about him.

“It’s a horrible thing to happen. I took it very personally on the day,” he said.

Mr Bromley has decided not to name the restaurant as he “doesn’t want retribution”, but instead wants to raise awareness of the condition.

He said he had been an inpatient at King’s College Hospital in August when the incident happened.

After being treated for his condition, he decided to eat out, rather than have hospital food.

He said: “After entering I noticed a cash-only sign, so went straight back outside to withdraw my money.

“I went back into the restaurant to place an order, and they told me to ‘please leave’, because in their words I was ‘scaring the customers’, and there had been complaints about me.”

He added: “There had not been enough time between the time I had been there first, and the time I went back, for anyone to have made a complaint about me so obviously the restaurant staff were not happy with the way I looked.”

Mr Bromley said he had not challenged the decision and left “fairly quickly”.

Mr Bromley said he had formally complained to the restaurant and when he did not receive a reply, he reported the incident to the police.

He said they had told him that although it was a hate crime, it was “unlikely” officers could pursue it further.

The Met confirmed to the BBC that officers had visited Mr Bromley about the incident and that although no arrests had been made, the force took “reports of hate crime seriously”.

They added all instances of hate crime were recorded and monitored.

Mr Bromley said he did not mind people asking questions about his condition.

Of the restaurant staff, he said it possibly came down to a lack of education.

“They probably thought having tumours was contagious or something,” he said.

The charity Nerve Tumours UK said: “We were extremely disappointed to hear news of the dreadful, but sadly not uncommon, incident that Oliver Bromley experienced.”

The charity’s director Karen Cockburn said it had written to both the restaurant and UK Hospitality, the trade association body.

“Whilst we have not received any response from the restaurant, I am delighted to say that UK Hospitality has offered to work with us to raise awareness of the condition amongst the hospitality sector,” she said.

Looking back, Mr Bromley said although he was disappointed no further police action was currently possible, he felt “some good came from this”.

He said although this incident had caused him and his family a great deal of sadness, they could now “create awareness around people with facial deformities, facial differences”.

“It’s not about me. It’s never been about me,” he said. “I don’t want retribution.”