The ‘slave auction’ notice from July 1820 lists the names of five men and women from a ‘local plantation’ alongside their skills. It has now been taken down by the pub
A Notting Hill pub has been accused of promoting ‘racist propaganda’ by displaying a historical slave auction poster on its walls.
The Stewart Arms is facing a furious backlash from Facebook users calling on punters to hold a boycott over the vintage print.
The ‘slave auction’ notice from July 1820 lists the names of five men and women from a ‘local plantation’ alongside their skills.
It also lists a further eight individuals ‘to be let’ as ‘house servants’ and ‘labourers’ – with one being just 14 years old.
The poster has now been removed from the wall with the pub’s manager telling MailOnline that it had been on display for 20 years.
But social media users have flooded the Stewart Arms Facebook page with angry reviews after a picture of the advertisement was uploaded to Twitter.
They have accused the pub of ‘glamourising the kidnapping, torture, rape and violation of human rights of millions of people’.
Others urged punters to report the establishment to the police for ‘inciting racial hatred’ while one man vowed to personally take down the poster himself.
Manager John Connelly said the first complaint was made by a couple who ‘took umbrage’ with the poster and made a comment to staff before walking out.
He told MailOnline: ‘It’s an old print of years gone by and nobody’s ever taken offence to it before but it has now been removed.
‘It’s one of these things that nobody ever thought would upset anyone.
‘When pubs go through a refurbishment bric-a-brac tends to be put on the walls – a lot of it relating to certain historical times.
‘It was put up God knows when and regular customers have definitely not taken offence to it in the past. It has been removed and it will not go up again.
‘It’s a very favourable pub and we’ve got a very mixed clientele. It was one person who complained – a chap and his girl who I didn’t recognise who came in on Friday night.
‘The poster was on the wall by the pool table and they obviously took umbrage to it.
‘They made a comment to one of the staff and walked out because of it.
‘It has been removed and we had no intention of upsetting anyone. It’s been there for so long. It came down the following morning straight away.
‘When you’re in a pub sometimes you don’t notice what memorabilla is on the wall because it’s quite big.’
Metropolitan Police have been contacted for comment.