Pub apologises after accepting ‘Golders Greed’ quiz team name days after terror stabbings

A Yorkshire pub has apologised after hosting a quiz where the winning team was allowed to call itself “Golders Green should be Golders Greed”, just days after a stabbing in the neighbourhood, which contains one of the UK’s largest Jewish communities.

As reported by The Telegraph, staff at The Crown at Boston Spa, a gastropub in West Yorkshire, did not object when the name was submitted to the quiz moderator by the team in question, which went on to win. The event was held on 4 May – five days beforehand, an individual stabbed to visibly Jewish men in Golders Green before being pacified by the police.

Reportedly, no-one present took any public issue with the name, with the incident only coming to light after an individual who had been at the quiz told a member of their family, who felt moved to complain.

As per The Telegraph, the individual who complained, who was not Jewish, said they were “ashamed to call The Crown my local… This was absolutely outrageous, and is both insensitive and racist towards innocent British Jews.

“How was this allowed in our local pub? Which member of staff felt this insensitive and damaging team name was acceptable? This type of public victimisation perpetuates ill feeling and alienation towards a minority group. To be blunt, it incites hatred.”

The letter writer noted that the pub had previously warned quizzers regarding another offensive team name which had been linked to staff members.

“The Crown is clearly not an inclusive establishment”, they said.

“What Jew could ever feel welcome or safe there. Shameful!”

Responding to the letter writer, the pub’s manager said it was “reviewing the incident with the quiz team and staff to ensure greater care is taken over team names and language used during future events”.

”We are very sorry that this team name caused offence and distress,” he added, as reported by The Telegraph. “The name should not have been accepted, and we take concerns about discrimination and inclusivity very seriously.

“At the time, it appears the significance and implications of the wording were not properly recognised by those running the quiz, but that does not lessen the impact it may have had on customers and members of the community.

“We want all customers to feel welcome and safe in the pub regardless of background or religion, and we appreciate you raising this with us.”

Golders Green in North West London is home to a longstanding Jewish community comprised of tens of thousands of residents. It has been the target of a number of high profile acts of hate beyond the stabbing. In March, four Jewish community ambulances were set alight there, while last year an individual was caught after smearing excrement on the entrances of a number of synagogues in the vicinity.

Associating Jews with money and greed is a longstanding antisemitic trope, dating back almost two millennia.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “This is plainly racist. It shows just how normalised racism against Jews has become in Britain.

This is plainly racist and, disappointingly for a winning pub quiz team, it’s not even a good pun. But it does show just how normalised racism against Jews has become in Britain. This is not a performative protest or hate march or anonymous online abuse: it’s normal people doing normal things at the local pub, and casually incorporating antisemitism, and nobody bats an eyelid.

“Everyone knows now that abusing Jews carries no consequences. Worse still, it has become cool. Not for the first time in history.”

The Crown in Boston Spa has been contacted directly for comment.