A LONDON bar has been castigated for making light of one of the worst atrocities of The Troubles.
Until this week, the Adventure Bar in Covent Garden had been selling the Sundae Bloody Sundae cocktail, topped with a toy soldier.
The drink is named after the day British paratroopers opened fire on Catholic Civil Rights activists in Derry in 1972, killing 14 people.
Kate Nash, whose 19-year-old brother William was among the dead, described the drink as "absolutely cruel".
She told the BBC that the cocktail’s name and the use of a toy soldier meant it could only be seen as a direct reference to the shootings.
"The person who thought this drink up knew what they were doing," she said.
"Insensitive just doesn't describe it. It is absolutely cruel."
An employee of Adventure Bar, which aims to “put the real FUN back into drinking”, told The Irish Post that Sundae Bloody Sundae is no longer on sale, but refused to comment further.
Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, a spokesperson for the company claimed people were misunderstanding the meaning of the drink.
"Perception in London is very different, and to those people who are upset we are highly apologetic, we are not in the business of trying to upset people,” he said.
“It was originally a reference to an Alan Partridge sketch but clearly this has been misconstrued, as we are understanding more as people make comments online."
The cocktail was brought to public attention when Adam McGibbon, a London-based Belfast man, posted a Twitter message voicing his outrage after visiting the bar.
The 25-year-old told the BBC that many in London’s Irish community would be angered by the drink, adding: "I think if it was just called Sundae Bloody Sundae it would've been almost permissible - in bad taste but OK - but the fact that there was a toy soldier on top of it connected it directly to Bloody Sunday in 1972 and made it offensive."
See More: Bloody Sunday, Troubles
