The owner of several Manhattan bars has banned customers from
wearing fur coats in his establishments. He welcomes all visitors, but tells them the fur cant come in. Door men examine pelts both fake and real before customers are allowed in. If someone is trying enter wearing a real animal fur they are told they can only enter if they remove it. One woman wearing a real fur was refused entry and she called the police, but that backfired as they were upset and almost arrested her for wasting their time.
On the popular Yelp! reviews site, one of the bars
Revision has a solid four out of five stars, which means it is a well-liked place,and some customers referenced the use of recycled materials within the bar, though no one mentioned the fur-free policy.
The Back Room has
290 reviews and some people also like the 25 years old or over policy on weekends. Only one reviewer mentioned the no-fur policy and seemed to believe leather is also banned, but that is not true.
The owner of the bars instituted the fur ban because he wants to support animals also he became a vegetarian eight years ago. In addition to banning fur, he said he will not serve foie gras or veal because they also are the products of animal cruelty.
Decades ago, ban fur within bars, or within a whole city might have been nearly unthinkable, but today there is much greater awareness of animal cruelty, so perhaps the fur banning trend can expand. For example, the city of West Hollywood recently
enacted a ban on animal fur products. This town has a population of about 34,000.