Creating Safe Spaces – Ask for Angela

If at any point you are in one of our great Hammersmith town centre pubs and feel vulnerable due to unwanted attention or unsafe on a date, you can discreetly request assistance by approaching any staff member and ‘Ask for Angela’.  #AskforAngela is an innovative campaign safeguarding individuals at risk in licensed premises.

Also available in many pubs and clubs across the capital and country-wide, the ‘Ask for Angela’ initiative aims to reduce sexual violence and vulnerability by providing customers with a non-descript phrase they can use to gain assistance from staff members in order to be separated from the company of someone with whom they feel unsafe due to that person’s actions, words or behaviour.

By “Asking for Angela”, an individual is alerting staff that they require help. They will be taken aside, or to a safer location, so they can speak in confidence to that staff member about what assistance they need.

Advice for Staff using the ‘Ask for Angela’ scheme within their venue

• Offer to take the person requesting assistance to a part of venue not in sight of the public or potential threat. (staff room, kitchen, toilets).
• Offer to call the person a taxi or assist them in calling a friend/family member to come and collect them.
• Where safe to do so (the person asking for help is out of sight and the staff consider it safe) request the person causing distress to leave the venue.
• Ask the person in distress what it is they want to do? (It might be they just want to alert staff that things are becoming uncomfortable and may need someone to keep watch whilst they collect possessions from the area where they were seated).
• Do Not allow the person asking for help to leave the venue in sight of the person causing them distress as this could lead to them being followed out of the venue and placed at higher risk.
• If the person causing distress becomes angry, consider calling the police for assistance or follow your corporate policy on this issue.