Nairn bakery Ashers tries to see funny side of online mix-up after namesake Belfast firm loses court case over its refusal to bake pro-gay cake
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A NAIRN bakery was forced to defend itself against an online critic who really took the biscuit this week.
Family firm Ashers is known across the Highlands, where it has been putting smiles on faces since 1877 with its cakes and pastries.
But in recent times it has also had to deal with more than its fair share of online criticism, as people from further afield mistake it for the identically-named Belfast firm which recently lost a court case over its decision to refuse to make a cake for a gay couple.
A French Twitter user known only as "Tetunicois" branded the Nairn firm "homophobic" on the social network site this week – to which Ashers responded "Vraiment?" ("Really?")
In response, it was then asked, in French: "Can you imagine a gay baker refusing to make a cake for a Christian marriage?" before Ashers responded "Je suis a bit out of ma depth now, but you have the wrong boulangerie Monsieur."
Speaking to the Courier afterwards, sales director Alister Asher said sometimes humour was the only way to deal with situations like this.
"Basically, ever since the Irish case came to light, and through every stage of the appeal and so on, we’ve had to deal with people getting the two firms mixed up," he said. "Humour is usually the best way to tackle it, as in this case.
"In our case I can’t think of any situation where we’ve been asked to produce a cake and decided to refuse.
"What’s offensive to one person isn’t to another after all."
The latest Twitter "spat" had a happy ending anyway - Tetunicois got back in touch to say "Sorry... I made a mistake about you. Your bakery is not in Belfast."
