Nightclubber hit for entry fee 'because of holiday tan'
A man who returned from holiday with a suntan was charged entry to a nightclub that usually lets him in free, under what he claims is a 'despicable' door policy.
A regular at Neptune in Lockhart Road, illustrator Nick Shearman, was stopped by bouncers two weeks ago and asked to pay $100.
'They were letting everyone else in, except for people with dark skin,' he said.
'I asked them why I had to pay - I never have before - they just pointed to the sign.' A sign at the door said 'guests', a term he took to mean dark-skinned people, had to pay to enter. Neptune is not a members' club.
'I just thought it was ridiculous,' Mr Shearman said, calling the door policy 'racist and despicable'.
He had just returned from a trip to Bali and his skin was darker than usual.
'What an eye-opener. Now I know what it feels like to be segregated from the rest,' he said.
Mr Shearman said a black British man with his group was also charged. Everyone else was allowed in free of charge.
Neptune manager Sammy Chan Yee-sun denied there was a racist door policy and put Mr Shearman's experience down to 'a little bit of a misunderstanding'.
He said door staff charged anything up to $300 and sometimes refused entry to people who looked like troublemakers.
Mr Chan insisted their judgment was not based on race. 'We welcome any kind of people' he said. 'Nationality makes no difference.' A South China Morning Post investigation this year found that many Wan Chai bars charged according to customers' skin colour, letting Caucasians in free, charging Chinese patrons and demanding up to double the fee from Indians.
The Government sent anti-discrimination leaflets to nearly 500 bars, but has no plans to make racial discrimination illegal.
