After a successful and swift campaign by ‘The Steeple Times,’ chef Jason Atherton is to be saluted for doing the right thing and banning the sickening goat slaying Capreolus Club from his premises; it is time these barbarians were banned full-stop
Now, after first being forced to take down their advert for a “club social” at Richard Caring’s swanky Mark’s Club in Mayfair on 8th September, the relocated event of the goat slaying Capreolus Club on that date at Jason Atherton’s Berners Tavern at the Edition Hotel in Fitzrovia has also been quite rightly canned.
As described in The Steeple Times on Sunday after Mr Atherton, the Berners Tavern, Edition Hotels and the public relations representatives for them after all failed to respond to request for comment on Friday and Saturday, we again shared that members of the Capreolus Club pay around £1,000 a pop to stalk goats in “the north of England and Scotland.” Of this, the twisted club enthuses: “If you want to hunt in the UK and fancy taking a break from deer, then feral goat stalking is a must.”
In the missive sent on Friday at 3:59pm, Matthew Steeples most fairly offered a 24-hour window for response from the 10 contacts emailed and asked:
- Have you accepted a booking from the Capreolus Club for the 8th September 2022 at 6.30pm at the Berners Tavern at the Edition Hotel?
- If so, did you know that the Capreolus Club is an ‘organisation’ that tells it members that “goat shooting is a must” in the UK?
- If so, do you also endorse the slaying of goats in the British Isles in this truly barbaric manner as a bit of fun?
- Do you feel that killing goats by chasing them across the hills to slay them as “a break from deer” is something that should be celebrated with a ritzy dinner at the Berners Tavern at the Edition Hotel?
Subsequently highlighted after a lack of reply by Sunday in the form of an article and a Change.org petition that was signed by 123 goat loving people prior to being declared victorious on Tuesday 9th August, a PR representative named Kate Bell eventually replied on Monday 8th August at 10.57am.
As we then added in an update to our article at 2pm on Monday 8th August for the sake of clarity, Kate Bell of Purple PR – without answering our four questions – told us:
“Many thanks for your email and for bringing this matter to our attention. Berners Tavern is not aware of this event and is not hosting it. We have asked the club to remove the event from their website as a matter of urgency.”
Later on, responding at 5.05pm, another Ms Bell, this time one named Gemma Bell of Gemma Bell and Company, further remarked:
“I have been looped into this email thread by Purple PR because I am Jason’s publicist. I would like to reiterate that Jason Atherton and Berners Tavern were not in any way aware of the nature of the booking. Now this has been brought to light the booking has been cancelled and the Club informed.”
“As Kate said, this should be taken down from their website immediately so we are also hoping that you will take down the article from yours. I also noticed a recipe of Jason’s on the website, this will also need to be removed, not quite sure why it’s included [editor’s note: The recipe is for a dish made with GOAT cheese].”
“Jason Atherton was not aware that this booking had been made at Berners Tavern, and it has now been cancelled. Jason and The Social Company do not condone any barbaric treatment of animals. The Capreolus Club is banned from all of The Social Company’s sites.”
Going further at 8.22am this morning in another email, Gemma Bell added:
“I am surprised to see the article is still up on your website with the addition of emails from Purple PR. However, your headline is very misleading and incorrect since the booking is no longer at Berners Tavern and the group have been banned from all restaurants part of The Social Company.”
Responding this morning, Matthew Steeples observed:
“Our article was anything but ‘misleading’ as clearly a booking had been taken by the Berners Tavern for an event for the goat slaying Capreolus Club. We received no response Friday and we rightly chose to highlight publicly available information on that club’s website.”
“Though I am pleased that this wicked celebration of massacre has now been cancelled and salute Jason Atherton for banning the Capreolus Club from his venues, it is not for PR people to tell journalists what they can and cannot publish. This article today clarifies the cancellation made, hails the decisive action of Jason Atherton and now our Change.org petition will now be marked as successful also.”
“As with Mark’s Club – who did not demand the removal of our articles – we commend all who join with us in banishing goat slayers from their orbit. Chasing such beautiful creatures across the hills to slay them as ‘a break from deer’ is totally reprehensible and unacceptable and should be called out as such.”
Equally, as one of our esteemed readers, a marketing expert from New York, commented in a private message yesterday: “I would have thought [these PR people] could get more PR mileage out of being horrified at the Capreolus Club and how Jason is thrilled to say he’s banning them forever, rather than trying to get you to take down your posting.”
“As you allude to in your email, easier to make goat cheese from live goats than slaughtered ones.”
Pictured top – A happy goat jumping for joy at news of the Capreolus Club again getting banished.
