Accusations of violence and racism from bouncers have been brought forward by numerous students and members of the public in a wide-ranging investigation by The Student.
All individuals who spoke to The Student did so on the condition of anonymity, and all evidence gathered comes from eye-witness accounts of events.
The issue of bouncers acting in an unprofessional manner first came to light in 2022, when the Police recommended Bourbon (formerly on Frederick Street) to close for excessive alcohol-induced violence that was often instigated by insufficiently trained door-stewards. Even though the council only recommended a hearing into Bourbon’s license, it shut down the following year. However, The Student has established that bouncers often act in ways that directly cause unnecessary violence.
In one story given, a bouncer outside Cabaret Voltaire knocked a young man to the ground before kicking him several times after supposedly giving the bouncer some “light-hearted chat”. The bouncer then had to be forced away from the scene. The Student contacted Cabaret Voltaire for comment on the incident but did not receive a response.
One student who spoke to The Student said that she was dragged out of The Bongo Club after a Hogmanay event was forced to close early. She said, “It was a horrible experience, and it made me feel powerless. It felt like a demonstration of his authority over me.” The Bongo Club did not respond when contacted for comment.
Bouncers endangering the safety of women at clubs in Edinburgh was a recurring theme. One testimonial claimed that women were manhandled and held to the ground on several occasions outside a prominent Edinburgh nightclub. The individual said that what she saw “was really upsetting to see and made me feel upset as a girl.”
The Security Industry Authority (SIA) demands that all trained bouncers try to avoid physical altercations by finding “positive alternatives”, and to be aware of the risks of physical intervention.
To an extent, bouncers are sometimes left with little choice than to resort to physical intervention. One owner of a prominent Edinburgh night-time venue explained this was “part and parcel of running a licensed premises, particularly a late-night venue. People and alcohol can be unpredictable and we do our best to ensure the vast majority of people enjoy their night. When police are called, we decide at the time whether to proceed with charges. If the person calms down, we’re likely not to proceed, but we have in the past proceeded with charges against those who have shown violence or aggression causing mental or physical injuries to our staff.”
Another dynamic of bouncer violence is the tendency to act more violently based on their own beliefs. At Big Cheese’s Halloween event in 2022, one student said her flatmate was aggressively dragged out of the club by multiple bouncers for wearing a priest costume that they found “offensive”, due to their religious beliefs.
When contacted for comment, EUSA President Dora Herndon said “We are sorry that someone had this experience at one of our venues, as was our team when it occurred in 2022. We want our students to enjoy our events and feel safe in our spaces. Falling short of this is not acceptable, and it is our responsibility to ensure this is rectified.”
She added that the Big Cheese has parted ways with that bouncer and for the last 18 months has worked with a different bouncer company. The individual still alleges that the bouncer works at Big Cheese.The Student was unable to verify this claim.
Predominantly, bouncer discrimination takes place in the form of racism. The Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER), a thinktank that has done extensive research into racism within Scotland’s nighttime economy, provided a number of stories of bouncers acting with racist motives. Often this takes place in the form of micro-aggressions, but an extreme, though not corroborated, case took place outside of Hive, where a black man was pinned to the bonnet of a car and violently assaulted by multiple bouncers.
The Student has also been informed by multiple students who have attended Hive that one bouncer has a swastika tattoo on their neck. Hive did not comment when questioned on this issue.
Another disturbing incident given by CRER was when Edinburgh’s African-Caribbean society faced strong resistance by a major club for hosting an event at the club, with the situation escalating after they were told their event would have been “racist”.
CRER also added that within SIA’s guidebook for bouncers, not discriminating based on skin colour was emboldened and in italics three times. Lucien Staddon-Foster, who heads CRER’s research into this issue, said to The Student that these kinds of actions by bouncers are “really damaging.”
“It not only affects individuals, but it also undermines community cohesion and the potential for people from different backgrounds to come together and engage in meaningful ways.”
Illustration by Ella-Rose Hudson.