Moment village pub is pressured to shut after 50 travellers descended on Surrey magnificence spot forcing ‘Britain’s Beverley Hills’ to shut down
This is the moment a village pub is forced to close as 50 travellers descended on beauty spots in Surrey.
The footage, exclusively obtained by MailOnline, shows chaotic scenes inside the packed pub on Saturday afternoon.
One bearded man is seen reaching over and repeatedly grabbing a bottle from behind the bar as staff struggle to contend with the rowdy group.
He appears to get into a heated conversation with one staff member as he refuses to let go of the drink.
The pub employee manages to wrestle it back only for the man to make another attempt at grabbing the liquor before the bartender moves the bottles from out of his reach.
Things later turn ugly when another man refuses to hand back a bottle – only to then pour the alcohol over the floor.
A frustrated bar employee tells him to ‘get out of the f***ing bar’. The man then drops the bottle on the floor causing the glass to shatter.
The clearly exasperated worker then declares: ‘There is no more service. The bar is closed.’
He is later seen apologising to customers as he explains he ‘needs to clean up this mess’.
There were chaotic scenes inside a packed village pub in Surrey on Saturday afternoon, with a man (circled) seen grabbing bottles from behind the bar
Things later turn ugly when a male (seen right) refuses to hand back a bottle only to then pour the alcohol over the floor
The chaos started after around 100 horse carts caused ‘mayhem’ in leafy Surrey on Saturday as they drove through red lights and crashed into cars.
They were seen speeding through towns and villages causing motorists to swerve out of the way and screech to a halt.
Police on Saturday night blanketed the whole of Elmbridge with a dispersal order, giving officers the power to remove groups of two or more people from the area.
Extra patrols were in force yesterday with the order in place until 3.55pm.
The affluent area is known as Britain’s Beverly Hills and has been called home by the likes of Premier League stars John Terry, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole.
One mother said her two children were left terrified when one of the horses crashed into her car as she hit out at the ‘lawless behaviour’.
Travellers were also seen ‘banging on the bonnets of cars’ and urinating on the streets.
One woman who lived in the area said her plans were ruined as they were left trapped in their village when roads around her were forced to close ‘due to the chaos’.
Travellers riding horses and carts yesterday ran roughshod through leafy Surrey as they caused chaos by driving through red lights and crashing into cars
Around 100 horse carts were causing ‘mayhem’ as they sped through towns and villages causing motorists to swerve out of the way and screeching to a halt
‘Drunk men [were] swearing in front of young children and urinating down the local side streets,’ she said.
Another resident wrote on Facebook that he saw a group of up to 60 horse carts heading towards Hampton Court.
‘If you are wondering why there is so much traffic around Sandown, it is due to the horse racing…. but NOT the conventional horse racing you might expect,’ he said.
‘There is 50 to 60 of these and it is causing mayhem. They are not stopping at red lights so traffic has come to a standstill… I saw two of them crashing into each other.’
A landlord, speaking exclusively to MailOnline on the condition of anonymity, said his staff were left petrified when around 100 turned up and trashed his village pub.
The group had been served ‘one or two drinks’ when things started to turn ‘rowdy’, he said.
‘They were pulling bottles off the shelves and the manager had to close the pub to get them out,’ he said.
‘They came behind the bar and pulled some spirit bottles off the shelves and then poured them on the floor and smashed the bottles.
Horses were seen left on the pavements and roads as travellers visited village and town pubs
One mother said her two children were left terrified when one of the horses crashed into her car as she hit out at the ‘lawless behaviour’
‘It was quite frightening for the staff. We are not a town centre bar that is able to deal with that sort of behaviour. We are just a little village pub.’
The group had turned up outside the pub at around 3pm, leaving their horses on the road and on people’s driveways.
Within an hour they had created total carnage and forced the pub to temporarily shut its doors to clean up the mess.
‘We had to shut because of the huge number in the area, it was the only way to deal with it,’ the landlord said.
‘They had broken various bits so we had to clean up because it was a mess. The bar staff dealing with it were quite shaken, it was a huge number of people in the venue.
‘I’ve seen it before where they arrive in horses and carts and zip up [the street]. I’ve never seen that number of travellers at once in this area. I’ve never seen it in that magnitude, it was huge.’
He added: ‘They were blocking the roads and then were just jumping off and leaving their horses in the road or in someone’s driveway.
‘They were zipping along on their mobile phones so whether the horses were under control or not… God knows. When you get such numbers of them it becomes chaos.’
Last year the pub was threatened to be sued for discrimination by the travelling community for £250,000 when it refused to serve a group of 50 people.
The landlord told MailOnline the lawsuit scare had put them in a ‘difficult position’.
He said: ‘I know every pub in this village received one of these letters.
‘If we refuse to serve them under grounds of safety we are likely to face prosecution for disrimination, but when we do serve them they just take over and smash the place up. We don’t have any protection.’
MailOnline understands the group had visited a number of pubs in the borough, including the Watermans Arms in Hersham, which did not report any problems.
Chief Superintendent Aimee Ramm, Northern Divisional Commander said: ‘Firstly, as the Divisional Commander for North Surrey, I would like to acknowledge the disruption and concern that the gathering of people using horses and traps on Saturday (12 April) caused to the local community.
‘We were first made aware of around 50 people using horse and traps at a location in Esher at around 1.30pm.
‘The group then moved on to other locations including Hampton Court, Bushy Park, Molesey, Hersham, Sunbury-on-Thames and Walton, and grew to around 150 people.
‘In response, numerous officers were swiftly deployed to the scene and several roads were closed to restrict the movement of the group.
‘A dispersal order was also put in place for the entire borough of Elmbridge from 3.55pm on Saturday 12 April until 3.55pm on Sunday 13 April. Neighbourhood officers also conducted extra reassurance patrols over the weekend.
‘Due to the large numbers involved, officers prioritised dealing with the immediate disorder, but I would like to stress that our enquiries into related reports of criminal behaviour are being thoroughly investigated as a matter of urgency.’
