A gay man has spoken out after being attacked for holding hands with his boyfriend in London.

Timothy Rumney, 29, was walking along Old Street in Shoreditch with his partner after a night out at gay club East Block during the early hours of Sunday morning (17 August).

As they were waiting for a bus, they overheard a man with his girlfriend refer to them as ‘batty men’.

Rumney challenged the man, and then the man asked why they were holding hands.

Minutes later, the same man approached the pair and hit Rumney around the face.

He was left with swelling to his cheek and lip but did not require hospital treatment.

Speaking to the Standard, he said: ‘I have never been attacked or bullied at school because of my sexuality. It is the first thing [of this kind] that has happened to me.’

When asked whether he was now scared to walk on the capital’s streets, he said: ‘I am proud to be with my boyfriend.

‘If anything it has driven me the other way. I do not feel that it has made me feel any different about being by myself or being around London.’

Police are reviewing CCTV footage of the incident as part of their investigations.

They are hunting for a slim black man in his late 20s, who is about 5’8” with stubble. He was wearing a dark waistcoat and trilby hat. He was with a white woman with brown hair, in her early 20s.