The contents of the letter delivered to Yesbar
Writer
On 13 March, Glasgow’s popular Yesbar, a city centre venue which endorses Scottish independence, reported the receipt of a “threat letter” in the wake of Nicola Sturgeon’s call for a second referendum on independence.
A tweet from the venue’s official account read: “My staff received a hand delivered threat letter today. Pro-union vile scum. Police called. Pro-union commentators will rush to condemn i [sic] hope”.
Later the same day, the venue’s account uploaded photographs of both the envelope in which the letter was delivered in and its contents, which amounted to a sheet of anti-independence newspaper clippings. The venue also tweeted that those responsible for the letter were “cowards” for “targeting young hospitality staff”.
Many Twitter users expressed their disbelief that a sheet of newspaper clippings could be considered a “threat letter”. One user responded: “Is that all that was in the envelope, some newspaper clippings?”, whilst another wrote: “a bunch of newspaper clippings. What’s the big deal? anything else? Seems like a fuss over nothing from what u [sic] have posted.”
Although the venue claimed the letter was “hand delivered”, the envelope displayed a full address and postcode and postage marks were clearly visible in the uploaded photo, leading one Twitter user to enquire if the hand-deliverer was in fact “the postman”.
Before ceasing completely from posting on the topic, the venue’s Twitter account responded to one user who claimed it “didn’t happen” by tweeting “yes it did you bigoted idiot.”
The Glasgow Guardian spoke to the assistant manager of the Yesbar who confirmed that the letter was indeed delivered by post. They also stated that they did not feel that the letter constituted a threat.
The Yesbar has been informed by the police that while they had done the right thing in reporting the matter, there was little they could do to take it further. The only thing that was vaguely threatening about the letter, they said, was that it was addressed to the bar staff.
