A cinema has been forced to defend its policies after customers swore at staff because of its face mask rules.
Staff at the Cinderford Palace Cinema in Gloucestershire say they were told the "f*** off" by a family after explaining that all of its customers must wear a face covering while inside.
Manager, Andy Lougher stood by the rules that face masks must remain in place despite backlash from customers, GloucestershireLive reports.
In a post on Facebook Mr Lougher said the rules were "simple" and added that anyone who didn't like it were free to take their business elsewhere.
The post read: "We're still getting quite a bit of 'resistance', i.e. aggression to our request that all customers wear face masks when entering and exiting and moving around the cinema.
"The family that just told my staff member to f-off over it can do just that and not bother coming back again, masked or not.
"The usual response is that 'we don't have to now, it's not the law anymore'.
"Maybe not, but this is a private business, if I wanted to I could decide that I wouldn't let anyone in who wasn't wearing a pink tutu.
"We feel that it's better to be safe than sorry, on balance wearing a facemask for a few minutes when going in and out of the cinema is a small price to pay if it helps keep yourself and others safe. It's not hard.
"The long and short of it is simple: we require you to wear a mask in this cinema, if you don't like it you're free to take your business elsewhere."
The post divided opinion on Facebook, with some supporting the stance while others called it "discrimination".
Many cheered on the cinema's decision to "stick to their guns" and called the customers' reaction "disgusting", with one saying: "Happy to wear a face mask, or even a pink tutu if it means I can access your fantastic cinema.
"I also applaud your no nonsense approach to abuse towards your staff."
Another said: "Far too many ill informed, selfish and downright rude people about these days!"
Meanwhile some took issue with the measures and said "I love the Palace Cinema but it’s no longer law to wear a face mask and has to come down to personal choice."
Another argued: "It’s illegal to refuse entry to anyone if they’re medically exempt."
However, the cinema again defended its personal choice and responded: "You can chose not to wear a mask anywhere you want but if you want to come in the cinema you need to wear one, that's my personal choice."
According to comments from other people, the cinema does allow customers entry without a face covering if they are medically exempt from wearing one.
While the Government's enforcement of face masks was lifted back in July, the rules still meant that businesses were allowed to enforce their own face mask regulations.
