Disabled man turned away from pub embarks on 300-mile pub crawl

Alex Barker is hoping to raise £10,000 for Changing Faces and Facial Palsy UK Credit: Changing Faces

A man who was turned away from a Cornish pub after a medical condition was mistaken for drunkenness is to return there, stopping at pubs along his 300-mile route from his home in Coventry.

Alex Barker, 43, who has Moebius Syndrome and facial palsy, stumbled as he walked into the pub in Falmouth on 11 July, and was then refused service as staff believed him to be ‘under the influence’.

His experience led to national media coverage and a social media campaign led by the charity Changing Faces in which pubs were asked to commit to ‘#ServeAlex’.

After leaving Coventry later today, Alex’s route will take him to pubs in Coventry, Worcester, Bristol, Taunton, Exeter, Bodmin, Truro before reaching Falmouth on tomorrow evening, where he will visit a number of pubs and bars.

He is hoping to raise £10,000 for Changing Faces and Facial Palsy UK, two charities that have supported him, to help them raise awareness of the problem.

Alex, who studied in Falmouth and now works in IT, said:

Dr James Partridge OBE, chief executive of Changing Faces, commended Alex’s determination to use his own experience to raise awareness but said that pubs must meet the challenge themselves.

Karen Johnson, deputy chief executive of Facial Palsy UK, said licensed venues have a legal duty to ensure they are not discriminating against people because of a medical condition.