21-year-old man claims bouncer assaulted him at Warwick nightclub in ‘homophobic’ attack

Police are investigating the incident that took place at Smack Leamington


A 21-year-old man claims to have been assaulted by a bouncer at Smack, a popular nightclub in Leamington Spa.

Josh was in Smack with his boyfriend when one of the bouncers allegedly singled out the pair.

“We were both literally hit in the head and face multiple times without any physical resistance from either of us,” Josh told The Warwick Tab.

Josh, who believes the motivation behind the attack was “homophobic,” says the police are now investigating the incident. Smack Leamington has been contacted for comment.

Josh was in Smack at around 3am with his boyfriend and their friends when, he claims, the bouncer attacked him.

“Two bouncers came up behind me while I was dancing with my boyfriend and dragged me off the dance floor, completely unprovoked and without reason,” Josh told The Warwick Tab. “I then said ‘What’s happening what have I done?’ and they continued to drag me by my arms, then putting me in a head lock.

“I am about 10 stone and not very tall and was giving no physical resistance so this already seemed extremely strange.

“I then shuffled my head to try to get them off me, while saying, ‘please just let go and I will walk out. I don’t know what’s happened but you don’t need to hold me down.'”

Josh sustained injuries and by the end of the altercation, his t-shirt was covered in blood.

Josh said the head bouncer offered to help stop the bleeding once he saw what had happened, and seemed “worried” when he realised that the injuries could have been inflicted by another bouncer.

“At the point when all of this happened, we were looking to leave the club and were not dancing with any other people,” Josh told The Warwick Tab.

The bouncers also allegedly laughed at Josh while telling him that the reason he had been kicked out of the club was because he had been “touching girls inappropriately.” Josh believed this was “a dig” at his sexuality.

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