A gay couple looking to find a flat share in London got a shock when they were turned down by prospective flatmates for not being “a regular couple”.

George Poole, and his boyfriend tweeted a screenshot of the brief exchange which took place after they enquired about a flat share.

In response the received the message: “Hi guys, sorry but we are looking for a regular couple. Thanks for understanding.”

Text: Not a ‘regular couple’

Poole tweeted his disbelief at the response, but not before firing back: “FYI we are a regular couple. Homosexuality is not irregular! Thanks for being ignorant.”

The image of the text messages was retweeted by British gold-medal winning Olympian Greg Rutherford, who said: “A friend of my GF is moving to London. He’s gay. He, with his boyfriend, enquired about a house share. The response?”

Mr Poole told PinkNews: “The message arrived early yesterday morning and it did take me back slightly, to the point I didn’t really know how to respond.

“I did get a response saying they were busy and that they were not thinking and hoped no offence was taken.

“Regardless of the arena whether it’s public or private – this ‘mistake’ should not occur.

“I know they didn’t mean it in a homophobic way, but their wording had homophobic repercussions, regardless of how subtle they are. It’s those subtleties which can be most dangerous to a society.”

Discriminating against a couple in such a way could be in breach of the sexual orientation regulation of Equality Act.

Poole also later tweeted: “Finding accommodation in LDN is more stressful than it should be. Someone pass me the port.”