Pensioner, 81, ordered to remove flat cap as he has a quiet pint - because it's a security risk

Harvey Talbot was having a quiet afternoon pint in his regular pub when he was told he had to take off the cap.

Staff said the bemused former driver, who suffers from mobility problems, could use it to hide his face if he committed a crime.

And when the pensioner complained, he was told the Yates' bar was only following police advice.

Embarrassed: Harvey Talbot, 81, was ordered to take off his cap as he had a pint in his local in case he used it to hide his face while committing a crime

He said: 'I said I was not a yob and that I had done 60 years' work before he was born. I told him I was 81 and couldn't move that fast because my legs are bad and what trouble am I going to cause at my age?

'I've never been told anything like that in my life and I have been going to the pub since I was 18. I could understand it if I was a violent person causing trouble, but I do not have a blemish on my record.'

He went on: 'I was embarrassed and fuming and I couldn't do anything about it.'

Harvey, of Newcastle-Under-Lyme, Staffs, had been drinking in the Yates' wine bar up to three times a week when staff enforced their dress code.

It was put in place after a young drinker went in wearing a baseball cap.

No hats: Yates' wine bar in Newcastle-under-Lyme

Fellow drinker Ralph Burnley, aged 54, said: 'I said "What do you expect him to do - raid the pork scratchings?". I felt he had been totally humiliated. 

'This chap was immaculately dressed in a suit and tie and was sober and so naturally he asked why he would be obscuring his face.

'The barman said they had to stop people wearing these baseball caps to prevent yobs causing trouble so they can see their faces.'

Yates' said the pub had been following Staffordshire Police advice but the force said a dress code was up to its management.

Inspector Steve Thirsk said: 'It is not Staffordshire Police's licensing policy that people must take their hats off when they go into premises.'

A Yates' spokesman said: 'The bar staff were using their discretion, but as soon as someone came in and made a fuss about someone else in the bar they adopted a uniform policy,'

Philip Snow, chairman of North Staffordshire Pensioners' Convention, said: 'When you have an elderly person who likes wearing a flat cap it doesn't make much sense to impose a policy so indiscriminantly. There needs to be some common sense.'