Mother not allowed to breastfeed in Belfast Pizza Express

A new mother felt ‘humiliated’ after being told she could not breastfeed her premature baby in Pizza Express. 

Lisa Wilson was on her first day out with eight-week-old Oliver and partner Connor Morrison when they sat down at Pizza Express in Victoria Square, Belfast, for lunch.

The new mother asked for a booth where she could feed Oliver in privacy, but was informed by the manager, ‘you cannot breastfeed in this restaurant’. 

Lisa Wilson, left, was on her first day out with eight-week-old Oliver, right, and partner Connor Morrison when they sat down at Pizza Express in Victoria Square, Belfast, for lunch

Discussing Wednesday’s incident, Ms Wilson told Belfast Live: ‘We were looking forward to it but turned into a horrible, embarrassing and humiliating situation.

‘We were told there was no breastfeeding in the restaurant like it was a shameful thing to even consider.’

The make-up-artist, 28, was turned down by Pizza Express despite a nation-wide policy of allowing breastfeeding at its stores. 

The make-up-artist, 28, was turned down by Pizza Express despite a nation-wide policy of allowing breastfeeding at its stores

Ms Wilson added: ‘It is a total disgrace in 2017 that a woman is basically turned away from anywhere because she plans to breastfeed her child.’ 

Zoe Bowley, Managing Director of PizzaExpress said: ‘We are so sorry that Ms Wilson and Mr Morrison had this experience in one of our restaurants. 

‘We have a policy which welcomes breastfeeding across all of our restaurants. 

‘In this instance, our policy was obviously not adhered to and we will make sure to communicate this again to our staff to ensure this doesn’t happen to anyone ever again. 

‘We are in direct contact with the couple to resolve this issue.’