Bristol Hooters Closes, Feminists Celebrate Victory Over 'Retro-Sexist Establishment'

Though they're sorry 39 people have lost their jobs, feminists in Bristol, England, were pleased this week when the local branch of U.S. "breastaurant" chain Hooters closed amid financial troubles, the BBC reports.

The company that ran Bristol Hooters, Gallus Management Company Ltd, said the branch was closing due to poor business, mounting debts and a long-running legal dispute with building contractors, according to Blottr.com.

"The business had never achieved its turnover targets, and in addition had lost a considerable sum following a dispute with contractors engaged to refurbish adjacent premises," a spokesman for Gallus Management told the BBC.

Gallus Management has faced harsh criticism from feminists and other Bristol residents ever since applying for a license to open Hooters Bristol back in 2010, according to the Bristol Evening Post.

Prior to its opening in October of that year, protesters gathered more than 700 signatures petitioning the Bristol City Council to ban the restaurant, but the city's licensing committee approved the restaurant on the grounds it "was offering something different."

Feminists nevertheless continued protesting the chain, sometimes becoming the target of online criticism from supporters of the restaurant.

"In the past I have received hate messages on my blog (by 'hate messages' I mean comments that use gender hate language) and during the period when we were actively campaigning against the opening of Hooters I received a lot of hate messages," Sian Norris of the Bristol Feminist Network wrote in the Guardian. "These included threats, nasty misogynistic comments and, at one low point, abusive comments about my family."

Nevertheless, many Bristol residents continued voicing opposition to Hooters Bristol, especially after an incident last year in which the restaurant was accused of serving a 3D "Boob Cake" to a 12-year-old boy celebrating his birthday there.

Norris believes the closing is a positive step forward at a time when a number of "lad's mags," namely the online magazine Uni Lad, are increasingly perpetuating misogyny in England.

"I am sorry that people lost their jobs and sincerely hope that they find new work soon, but I believe that the closure of Hooters is fundamentally a positive step," Norris wrote. "It shows that a retro-sexist establishment is not welcome in our city."

WATCH: Promotional video of from Hooters Bristol:

Comments

[eastwoodmaniac]

04:02 AM on 02/15/2012

Is it an inevitability of the economic climate or a sign that these establishments are built on a somewhat old-fashioned and outdated premise that a man can be oh-so-easily coerced into parting with his cash when presented with an attractive woman? One would hope that it's the latter.

[fallenawayrepublican]

12:23 PM on 02/13/2012

The feminists should seek full time employment rather than shutting down a going business. What has been gained here? Not one freakin thing. Whinners.

[Thismortalcoil]

01:56 PM on 02/13/2012

Not only have you not read the feature, you have no idea what feminist means.

The restaurant closed down because not enough people wanted to go there. It was never a going business. Perhaps the owners need to get with the times.

[adamben]

12:06 PM on 02/13/2012

breasturaunts are going to go out of business because they are rumored to have awful food. there is only so far a scantily clad lady could keep you distracted from that. nude? well, those places will never go out of business.

[BassguyGG]

11:00 AM on 02/13/2012

I personally think Hooters is lame but no worse then the many strip clubs that proliferate in the NY area. I was taken there once (under duress) and the food was awful. I will admit that the young waitresses were nice to look at but it's not my kind of thing. That said, as a legitimate business they have every right to stay open if the clientele supports them. I wouldn't sign a petition to close one nor would I pay the least bit of attention if I were presented with one as the propriator.

[smlyttle]

07:37 AM on 02/13/2012

Yeah they closed a Hooters... so what? Not trying to be rude, but who cares? I'm more annoyed you got people fired from a solid job then caring about a Hooters closing. You say it subjugates women? Are they forced to work there, are they not paid fairly, are they abused physically or emotionally? True they wear tight uniforms and low cuts of all types of cloths, but they also have good wings and the times I've been there they look like they're having fun all around, not just the customers. You want subjugation? Try a slave market, brothel, or organ harvesting.

[Thismortalcoil]

11:03 AM on 02/13/2012

Whoops, you totally missed the bit where it got closed down because not enough people wanted to go, not because of the petition. Sounds like the customers didn't enjoy it as much as you thought.

[smlyttle]

12:55 AM on 02/14/2012

Ok... remember the whole not care part? If you want to get picky I wonder where they did this petition. Door to door, or right outside the place? Either way they had to be pretty loud about it to get all the signatures they did and a lot of negative press. Anyway like I said I just hope the people who lost jobs for it can get work somewhere soon if not already.

[Thismortalcoil]

07:19 AM on 02/13/2012

Just to clarify, feminist simply means someone who has a 'belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.'

The term' feminist' applies to anyone who thinks men and women are equal. The majority of people in the UK believe men and women are equal, therefore the majority of people in the UK, are feminists.

It's the non-feminists, who believe in inequality, who are the problem.

[thorrsman]

10:15 AM on 02/13/2012

Incorrect. The actions of "feminists" over the decades since the '60s prove that they want special rights for themselves, hold a hatred for the male of the species, have a narrow, puritanical view of sex, intensely dislike the convensional sense of female beauty and, of course, embrace Far Left political ideals.

What they say for public consumption and what they DO are vastly different things.

[Thismortalcoil]

10:51 AM on 02/13/2012

'Incorrect'? I suggest you look it up, and come back to me when you've educated yourself a little.

[Paul Wagland]

01:52 PM on 02/13/2012

thorrsman, you can't just make things up and then insist they are true. Your viewpoint suggests it's you that has a problem with gender hatred, not the feminists. The definition is a simple one, please see below. Give me a shout if you need clarification. Maybe I can draw you a picture, or use shorter words.
.
fem·i·nism   [fem-uh-niz-uhm]
noun
1. the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men.

[adamben]

12:02 PM on 02/13/2012

then who are these femonazis that the baggers keep talkin' 'bout?

[Paul Wagland]

05:09 AM on 02/13/2012

The restaurant closed purely because it wasn't making money. How come the American readers of this article don't seem to understand that point? Also, how come so many of them are so angry that this kind of place is unpopular in the UK?

Lots of comments about English women being ugly, English men not being macho enough, English food being rubbish.... just because a restaurant wasn't a success? Get over it guys, the UK just doesn't have an interest in the seedy, low-rent exploitation that is Hooters.

[bptrav11]

06:17 AM on 02/13/2012

No they have the Tabloids for that!

[Thismortalcoil]

07:20 AM on 02/13/2012

We might not have the Sun for much longer. Fortunately.

[pete cole]

04:11 AM on 02/13/2012

It was nothing to do with these women they just went BUST (pun intended)

[WillieBlack]

01:49 PM on 02/13/2012

Ignorant fat septic.

[the81kid]

01:50 PM on 02/12/2012

Hooters is closed down? Good.
What kind of self-respecting man gets off on that cheap titillation anyway. You don't have to be a feminist to be against valuing women only for their bodies - bodies which aren't attractive to everyone anyway.

[rMatey]

03:23 PM on 02/12/2012

Don't start with that. Women are proud of their boobies. They know what titilates a man to tip.

[the81kid]

04:17 PM on 02/12/2012

"boobies" - what are you, a pirate with wenches?
what titilates me is conversation, hot eyes, a smile, cool personality.

[stacknef]

01:15 PM on 02/12/2012

"I am sorry that people lost their jobs and sincerely hope that they find new work soon, but I believe that the closure of Hooters is fundamentally a positive step," Norris wrote.

No, you're not sorry they lost their jobs......

[Paul Wagland]

01:18 PM on 02/12/2012

Nobody was targeted. The place closed because it wasn't making money.

When you get around to reading the article, perhaps you'll come back and give us the benefit of your opinion?

[Ben Cohn]

02:17 PM on 02/13/2012

Yes true, but don't we think part of that might have been the constant protesting against it going on? I'm probably not going to eat in a place I might get harassed going in to, even if I wanted to go there.

[RobEFoster]

01:20 PM on 02/12/2012

It's burger time in the states.

[RobEFoster]

01:34 PM on 02/12/2012

It's ALWAYS burger time in the states.

Sweatpants are their national costume for a reason.

[PapaPac]

10:50 AM on 02/12/2012

I thought Europe was supposed to be so much more sexually liberated than the Puritan founded US. You will put boobs on page three of you news paper but get riled up by girls in short shorts and a tight T-shirt. I realize that you don't get a lot of beach weather up in the North Atlantic but I know that girls there still where Bikinis and that is a whole lot more revealing than Hooter attire. Grow up.

[WillieBlack]

12:53 PM on 02/12/2012

The closure was due to financial problems.

Learn to read.

[bptrav11]

06:22 AM on 02/13/2012

Those financial problems were caused by the protests and the obstacles put up by the local Puritans.

[stacknef]

01:16 PM on 02/12/2012

uptight women are a national resource in England

[RobEFoster]

01:21 PM on 02/12/2012

Obese women are a national resource in the USA.

[thorrsman]

11:30 PM on 02/11/2012

I recall hearing--many times--that the birth rate in Europe is below the replacement level by a fair degree, that only immigration--and immigrants' babies--keep the population from nosediving. Now we see that Hooters can't attract business enough to stay open there.

One must wonder if the two facts are related.

[Paul Wagland]

01:10 PM on 02/12/2012

Generally speaking, the more developed the country the lower the birth rate.

[thorrsman]

12:33 AM on 02/13/2012

And yet in the most developed country--America--we don't have that problem. We still remember why it is a good thing that women are different from men, and the women are glad of it.

[SoldAmerican]

10:07 PM on 02/11/2012

This why I Ioathe feminists.

[Paul Wagland]

01:20 PM on 02/12/2012

Because unpopular restaurants close in poor economies? I don't see the link. Did you read the article, by any chance?

[LindaPeterJones]

10:02 PM on 02/11/2012

I'm not a feminist so to speak, but I have always hated this chain of restaurant. It just screams male chauvinism and is not any place healthy for a woman to work. It puts to the women who do work there at a higher risk of being raped. I don't understand either why any woman would want to work there because all women know there are some guys out there we are just not attracted to and they don't have a right to see us undressed. The thought of one's parents friends walking in there would be unbelievably humiliating to. These of just two of the reasons I am against porn magazines as well. It will always be wrong that women have to put their boobs before their brains and talent in this world and are seen as nothing but a pair of them, but I'm glad in this little corner of England that message is being sent loud and clear.

[LindaPeterJones]

10:13 PM on 02/11/2012

Typo-These *of just two of the reasons I am against porn magazines
These are just two of the reasons I am against porn magazines.

[thorrsman]

11:22 PM on 02/11/2012

Your thinking is wrong. Rather Islamic, in fact. A civilized man does not suddenly decide to rape a woman because of how she is dressed. Indeed, were that so, the beaches in summer would be too dangerous for any woman not in full nun's habit to step upon.

Men, by their nature, are hardwired to appreciate the female form. (Proof, like the discovery of beer, that the Gods love us and want us to be happy) but that does not mean that we simply "take" what we want when we see it.

Indeed, if the headshrinkers are to be believed--problematic, that, but give them the benefit of the doubt--rape has very little to do with lust and sex and far more to do with fear and a desire to control the object that causes such fear. The only way you can possibly blame a woman's scanty attire for her being attacked is if you view it as HER fault someone else has a problem dealing with women, a very benighted attitude indeed.

[the81kid]

01:54 PM on 02/12/2012

... yes yes, but only if the woman has big breasts.
"Rather islamic"?! where did you pluck that epiphany from??