'I am a black woman. If you are allergic to black people, don't come in': Yorkshire cafe owner warns potential customers she 'doesn't bite' after previous bad reactions
- Martha-Renee Kolleh put the sign up because of how she had been treated
- She said some customers walk out when they see the colour of her skin
- Mother-of-two serves British, African and Caribbean food at the cafe
By CHRIS BROOKE
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When customers walk into her cafe, only to walk straight back out again, Martha-Renée Kolleh insists it has nothing to do with the prices or the decor.
The problem, she says, is racial prejudice.
In an almost exclusively white town, she believes some people do not like being served by a black woman.
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Cafe owner Martha-Renee Kolleh has put up a sign telling customers she is black because she became fed up with how she was being treated
Ms Kolleh said while a lot of people in Ossett had supported her, others 'open the door of my cafe and once they take a look at me they walk out'
So Miss Kolleh, 46, decided to do something about it, posting a notice outside the cafe which reads: ‘Attention! Everyone be aware I am a black woman and always will be. If you are allergic to black people, don’t come in.
‘But if you prefer quality wholesome meals in a pleasant and clean environment, come in. I don’t bite!’
The single mother-of-three said customers regularly leave after seeing her. When one family turned around to go she heard them say: ‘I think we’re in the wrong place.’
Miss Kolleh said she tested her theory by employing a white member of staff to serve customers while she waited out the back.
‘She did very well and we had a lot of custom, but as soon as I was back behind the counter, nobody comes in,’ she said.
The single mother-of-three serves a mixture of British, African and Caribbean food at her cafe in Ossett, West Yorkshire
Miss Kolleh has run the Yeanon Cafe in Ossett, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, for two years and offers ‘everything from Caribbean to African to English’ food.
Originally from Liberia, she has lived in Britain for 11 years with daughter Pertetual, 16, and two sons James-Earl, 18, and 12-year-old Israel. She said she put up the sign last week ‘because of the way people treat me in Ossett’.
‘They just open the door of my cafe and once they take a look at me they walk out,’ she said.
‘Now, when they open the door they will expect to see a black face. I put the sign up because my frustration had built up over a long amount of time. It upsets me and I have had enough of it. I cannot be running a business like this. My family try and make our customers welcome but none of them deserve this kind of behaviour towards us.
‘I keep this place clean and I make nice food. I can’t see any other reason for people deciding they don’t want to eat here.’
Ms Kolleh said while a lot of people in Ossett (pictured) had supported her, she would have to leave by autumn if business did not improve
She said some customers had responded positively to the sign and others had reacted badly and walked away.
She added: 'This is my livelihood. I need to support myself and my children. If my business does not improve in a few months I will have to pack up.’
According to the 2011 census there are 68 people of Afro-Caribbean origin in Ossett, and the total population of 16,116 is 97.5 per cent white. Coffee shop owner Mark Ellerker, 42, is part of local business group Building Ossett Better, and he has invited Miss Kolleh to the next meeting.
‘We will do everything we can to make Martha feel welcome in the community, and we are keen for Ossett not to be tarnished as a racist town,’ he said.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2359316/Yorkshire-cafe-owner-Martha-Renee-Kolleh-puts-sign-warn-customers-Im-black-woman.html#ixzz2Z4WcZP45
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