A peaceful protest is set to be held at Greggs in Westwood Cross to highlight the rights of mums who want to breastfeed their babies in public after one mum was told she could not breastfeed her baby in the store and should use public toilets or a bench instead.
Rebecca Reeve, from Birchington, and her partner went to the Greggs store over the weekend and would normally have sat in the rear but, as this was shut, her partner took the baby and sat on a table at the front while Rebecca paid at the till.
While she was there she said she asked if it was ok to eat in and added that she needed to breastfeed her baby.
The 23-year-old said: “The man behind the counter was a trainee and he went to ask someone else. He then came back and another staff member said ‘I’m really sorry, breastfeeding isn’t allowed in here, you’ll have to use the public toilets or the benches outside’. As it was busy and there was a queue I just left it and sat down.
“I asked another member of staff a little later after I’d finished my food whether I could breastfeed my son and she said ‘sorry, breastfeeding isn’t allowed in here, you’ll have to use public toilets or the outside seating area’.
“I said I was not feeding my son in the toilet and asked who made that rule. She said ‘it’s just policy and there’s nothing I can do.’”
The family then went to M&S where they were told Rebecca was welcome to feed her baby.
Rebecca’s mum, Vanessa, said she received a phone call from her daughter and was furious to hear what had happened.
The 51-year-old said: “I was fuming. I phoned Greggs and asked what their breast-feeding policy was. The woman obviously cottoned on because she said it was only because the seating area was closed at the back but I said my daughter did not sit at the back.
“I told them they were breaking the law and that I would be contacting head office. She just said she did not want to argue and put the phone down on me.
“The distress my daughter was put through was disgusting and it was breaking equality law, you don’t discriminate against a women who wants to feed her baby.”
Vanessa says Greggs head office has been ‘massively apologetic’ and a regional manager is meeting the family at the store this week to apologise in person.
Westwood Cross shopping centre management has also told the family they have sent out a message to all shops that breastfeeding mums are not to be turned away.
‘Matter of urgency’
A spokesperson for Greggs said it is not company policy to refuse to let mums breastfeed in their stores and the company was concerned to learn about the incident at Westwood Cross.
They added: “Customers are welcome to breastfeed in our shops. We have been in close contact with the customer and are working with our shop teams as a matter of urgency to ensure this does not happen again.”
Equality Act 2010
It is a legal right to breastfeed in public, protected by the Equality Act 2010 which states that it is sex discrimination to treat a woman unfavourably because she is breastfeeding, meaning no one can ask you to stop or leave a public place due to breastfeeding. This applies to cafes, shops, public transport, and any other public space providing a service.
Peaceful protest
Rebecca received massive support after posting to facebook about her experience, prompting resident Lauren Skye Rose to raise the idea of organising a protest.
Dozens of people have pledged to take part and it is planned to go ahead this Saturday (February 22) at 11am in a bid to highlight the rights of new mums.
Rebecca now wants to launch a campaign to make sure new mums are aware of their rights.
Mum-of-three Vanessa added: “We do not want women to be put off from feeding their babies in public because they have the right to do that.
“We want people to be aware of the law and that no-one can stop you feeding your baby, in fact you don’t even have to buy anything while you are there.
“Women and shop staff need to know about equality law.”
Absolutely disgusting behavior from Greggs. Just because their food is processed rubbish, do they think a mother shouldn’t be encouraged to give her baby what’s best?
I thought this outdated ruling was long past. Gregg’s need to very quickly update their staff on not only the current law but also on the huge majority of public opinion supporting this. Of course this mother should have been allowed to attend her new baby’s needs.
Another reason for myself not to step inside Gregg’s.
Bravo for highlighting this issue – both to Rebecca for sharing her story and the organisers of the protest. I proudly breastfed both my daughters whenever they were hungry, wherever we happened to be. I didn’t get any rude comments or dirty looks except in my own home when an elderly relative disapproved! Boobs are for first and foremost for feeding babies, and if babies are hungry they don’t want to be sat in a public toilet having their dinner. Terrible attitude from small-minded Greggs staff who are talking out of their behinds by making up false policies to hide their own prudishness.
The situation received plenty of publicity and has been dealt with. A public protest is totally unnecessary and just a 15 minutes of fame attempt. Get on with life and stop wasting people’s time
Thank you for being the voice of reason
That’s not a voice of reason. It’s an instruction to “get back in our boxes”. It’s the sort of comment I would expect from a dictator like Keir Starmer, or from an unreasonable boss who tries to stifle initiative, and not a comment I would expect from a fellow citizen. Do you have a problem with public protests?
If Greggs are concerned that local staff did this they need to make public how they intend to make reparations. Greggs management need to interview their staff to find out what was said and who took this stupid decision. They then need to identify why this decision was made and take action. If Greggs policy is legally compliant then the staff lied to the customer about having a policy prohibiting breast feeding in the shop.
If Greggs don’t get on top of this they are going to face problems.
What a childish cretin you are. You’re on the wrong site, there are plenty others for immature morons elsewhere, go find
Pathetic comment.
I hope Greggs can resolve this quickly with all their staff. Whatever people think of the food at Greggs, Greggs can often be a lifesaver at places like motorway service stations. Sometimes it’s the only civilised supplier that still accepts cash and still serves customers over the counter instead of forcing them to use a stupid self-service machine.
Westwood cross Management are a waste of space, they talk the talk but nothing will happen, like the time l contacted them about people parking in disabled bays without blue badges l was told we take this matter seriously and do check vehicles all the time, funny thing is people are still parking in disabled bays without badges also outside the VUE all the time so don’t expect anything to change.
WESTWOOD CROSS IS A WASTE OFF SPACE. ITS DAYS ARE NUMBERED.
Bring back Haine Hospital.
And Pearce Signs!
Theoretically you can see their point, the back of the store maybe secluded, but at the front it could be in full view of the public, some of whom may be offended. I don’t agree with Greggs policy, but if someone complained, what would happen ?
So what if they’re offended? What the ladies are doing is perfectly legal.
If I were a store manager and somebody complained about something as natural and legal as feeding one’s own offspring, then I would want the complainant escorted off the premises before they start complaining about the food portions, the wallpaper, the font style on the menus; or about other people’s hairstyles, dentures or other distinguishing features. And as a compromise I might be prepared to sell them a takeaway meal to be consumed in a toilet cubicle where they cannot be offended by the outside world.
Who would be offended by a mother breastfeeding her baby? You complete sausage!!!
How about asking people who are unable to have children, they can find it very upsetting to see young mums with babies, legal or not.
Breastfeeding is so, so good for babies. It needs to be encouraged, not discouraged.
What is really annoying is when parents plant their kids on the tables of cafes, one even put her little monster on a potty in M&S cafe. The loos are nearby