Letter: No fee for entering the spirit

AN ARTICLE on 2 January ('For the sake of Auld Lang Z-z-z-yne') stated that a customer was charged a pounds 5 entrance fee, by the doorman, to enter The Round House after 10.30pm on New Year's Eve.

As manager and licensee of this public house, I would like to state that this is absolutely untrue. Nobody was charged an entrance fee on New Year's Eve, nor has anyone ever been charged an entrance fee to The Round House at any time. I have discussed this with the owner of the security firm from which we hire doormen and he is certain that none of his employees would charge entrance fees on their own behalf.

Your reporter may have confused us with a public house near to us, where the management had been charging a pounds 2 entrance fee all New Year's Eve to be donated to charity. At about 10.30pm, and for quite a while afterwards, the police were actually at that public house speaking to the management because some customers had complained.

D McKinstry

Manager, The Round House

London WC2