The owner of The Half Moon has decided Tom Meighan’s sold-out gig will go ahead on 26 June, rejecting Putney MP Fleur Anderson’s public demand to cancel it.
Young’s Pubs has responded after Anderson wrote publicly to chief executive Simon Dodd calling the booking a platform for someone convicted of domestic abuse.
The company acknowledged the seriousness of Meighan’s 2020 domestic assault conviction but said the show should proceed. Young’s told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that Meighan had accepted responsibility in court, served his sentence, issued a public apology, and had “taken steps towards rehabilitation.”
In a statement, the company added: “We also respect the principle that individuals should have the opportunity to move forward with their lives after demonstrating accountability and change.”
Anderson had written that booking Meighan “raises serious concerns about the message this sends to survivors in the community.” Young’s said it understood some people would disagree with its decision.
The concert at the Lower Richmond Road venue is sold out. Tickets were priced at £55.
Should the Half Moon go ahead with the Tom Meighan gig?
Is Fleur Anderson right to pressure Young’s Pubs to cancel the booking?
What Putney readers think
Our survey from Wednesday’s story drew 179 responses. Asked whether the gig should go ahead, 78% said yes, citing Meighan’s completed sentence and his wife’s public defence of him. Seventeen per cent said a Putney venue should not platform someone convicted of domestic abuse. Six per cent were unsure.
On whether Anderson was right to pressure Young’s to cancel, opinion was more divided: 43% said this was a commercial decision for the venue to make, 41% said Anderson was right to raise it but the decision should be the venue’s, and 16% said MPs should speak up on issues like this in their constituency.
