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An east London coffee shop has come under fire after a chalkboard outside the cafe read "Sorry, no poor people".

Since the sign was spotted outside Brick Lane Coffee's shop in Shoreditch earlier this week, the cafe has come under heavy criticism on Facebook and Twitter.

However, the owner of Brick Lane Coffee has said staff were not behind the message, adding that the offensive board was removed by employees as soon as it was discovered.

When asked who was behind the sign, owner Adrian Jones said he thought the establishment had been targeted by anti-gentrification protestors.

He said: "Someone came along and graffitied it on there", speculating it could have been the same protestors who attacked the nearby Cereal Killer Cafe.

Brick Lane Coffee has yet to respond publicly to the dozens of people who have criticised the sign on social media, under the impression that the shop had put it up.

"Never had coffee here and never will. Reprehensible attitude towards the poor and the disadvantaged. Your signage isn't funny, it's just crass." Gavin Prior via Facebook

Posting on Facebook, Scott Hutchison said: "You shower should be ashamed of yourselves. You certainly don't deserve to be successful with an attitude like this."

While Sarah Alice More left a negative review for the cafe, saying: "I would go here again but their really witty and original chalk board outside says no poor people.

"Shame. If you're desperate for an average, overpriced coffee then there's a Pret just up the street."

While another Facebook user, Boudicca Rising, said: "No poor people"?! Really? Are you trying for a bit of subversive newsworthiness on the backs of people who are starving?

"Or are you giant, over-privileged t***waffles? I'm guessing both .. PS I'm NEVER walking into your shop."

And Gavin Prior said: "Never had coffee here and never will. Reprehensible attitude towards the poor and the disadvantaged. Your signage isn't funny, it's just crass."

Mr Jones said he would not be defending the coffee shop, saying simply: "Don't explain, don't complain."

A picture of the controversial sign was reportedly tweeted from the shop's account, but Mr Jones said this was done by a member of staff in error.

He said: "It was just a misunderstanding, someone had just written it on there, and one of the staff made a mistake, and thought it had been done by someone here.

"The staff put the pictures up and there's an admin woman that does the Twitter."

The @bricklanecoffee Twitter account has recently been deleted, but Mr Jones said this was due to an unrelated technical problem, and that it would be operational again soon.

The coffee shop's website boasts of having "three shops scattered about the lowbrow areas" of London, and promises customers will "come happy, leave edgy."

Earlier this year Brick Lane Coffee sparked controversy for displaying a chalkboard saying: "please don’t feed the crackies".

At the time, following complaints, Mr Jones apologised and said that the sign had been erased.

He told the Morning Star he had been out of the country but found the sign to be in “very bad taste", and pledged to donate £250 to a local drugs rehabilitation project or to Russell Brand’s new cafe Trew Era in nearby Hackney, which employs local recovering addicts.

Today, he told the Standard: "The problem is, we've got four shops that do two signs a day and we've been open for 15 years, that's probably 17,000 signs, and I don't get them to email me them every morning.

"But this one wasn't us."