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A man successfully sued Brewdog for sex discrimination after they refused him a drink because of his gender.

Dr Thomas Bower went for a drink at the Brewdog bar in Cardiff where he attempted to order the Pink IPA drink which was advertised for £4.

The drink was launched in 2018 as an attempt to highlight the gender pay gap and allowed people who identified as female to buy the drink at a discounted cost.

It was satirically dubbed 'Beer for Girls', with BrewDog saying it had created Pink IPA as a way of "exposing the sexist marketing techniques used to target women, particularly within the beer industry".

Dr Bower, from Cardiff, said that the bartender at the bar on Westgate Street refused to serve him the drink on the grounds that he was male, and offered him the Punk IPA that was sold for £5. Punk IPA is one of Brewdog's best-known brands.

The 27-year-old software engineer said: "After a bit of a back and forth with me protesting this, I felt forced to identify as female and was then able to get the drink for £4 - I complained to the company about this and they said it wasn't discrimination because the price difference was part of a national campaign to raise awareness about the gender pay gap.

"Not satisfied with this, I complained again to Brewdog stating that I was intending to take them to court over this but would rather resolve the problem outside court. They ignored this."

(Image: Thomas Bower) (Image: Publicity Picture)

Unhappy with the experience in March 2018, Dr Bower decided to take Brewdog to the small claims court , stating that if they apologised publicly he would drop the claim.

He claimed for damages and an apology for "direct discrimination and breach of the Equality Act 2010", according to court documents dated May 23 2019.

In the document Dr Bower said: "[I] felt forced to lie about my sex in order to receive the product at the lower price and told the bartender that I identified as female. The bartender then served me the drink at a price of £4."

(Image: WalesOnline)

In a transcript of District Judge Phillips' judgement, he said: "In my judgment, it is clear that in this case the claimant has been directly discriminated against by the defendant because of his sex.

"The fact that by identifying as female he was still able to purchase a Pink IPA makes no difference. I accept what Dr Bower says, namely that identifying as female was the only way he could purchase a Pink IPA at a cost of £4."

He added that Dr Bower would have felt "humiliated" and it was "not a pleasant experience for him".

According to a blog post on the Brewdog website from March 2018, the Pink IPA was sold to anyone who identified as female for 20% less. In the court document it states that Brewdog said it was part of a "satirical campaign" to highlight gender inequality.

It states: "As part of this campaign, the defendant says it rebranded its product, Punk IPA and sold this as Pink IPA.

"They say the campaign was undertaken for four weeks and commenced on March 8 2018, International Women’s Day. They say, Pink IPA was sold to those identifying as women and was offered at a reduced price of 20%, on the basis of this being the gender pay gap in the United Kingdom."

It adds that Brewdog argued that as Dr Bower claimed he identified as female, he received no different treatment and was able to purchase the Pink IPA.

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Judge Phillips awarded him damages of £1,000. Dr Bower represented himself in court. He said that he did not want to profit from the case and donated the damages to charity.

Dr Bower said: "After taking into account my costs, I donated equal amounts of this award to the Young Women's Trust, which aims to help women negotiate for better pay, and the Campaign Against Living Miserably, which runs a male suicide prevention line, among other things."

Dr Bower said he "does not deny the existence" of the gender pay gap, but said there should be equal opportunities over equal outcome.

The Cardiff Civil Justice Centre confirmed the case went ahead. Brewdog has been approached for comment.