'Sorry no poor people': Outrage over 'ironic' sign outside hipster Shoreditch coffee shop that the owner claims was a prank by 'anti-gentrification protesters'

  • Passer-by spotted sign in Shoreditch and posted on Facebook and Twitter
  • Some claimed it was 'ironic' and said Kiko Loiacono didn't get humour
  • Owner Adrian Jones claims it was written by 'anti-gentrification protesters' 
  • He slammed whoever wrote it as 'hipster w*****s' in seemingly satirical post

By James Dunn For Mailonline

Published: 14:52 EST, 10 October 2015 | Updated: 12:21 EST, 11 October 2015

A sign saying 'sorry no poor people' outside a trendy coffee shop in Shoreditch has caused outrage on social media.

Some people branded the sign 'disgusting' after Kiko Loiacono, 47, posted it on Facebook and Twitter when he saw it in east London this week.

But some believe the sign, in trendy Shoreditch, was supposed to be 'ironic', attacking Loiacono for being 'a bad grass' who doesn't understand humour.

A passer-by posted a picture of this sign outside a trendy east London cafe, which caused outrage among many who saw it

A passer-by posted a picture of this sign outside a trendy east London cafe, which caused outrage among many who saw it

The Goswell Road store caused controversy earlier this year after writing a sign saying 'please don't feed the crackies,' referring to drug addicts.

However, the owner, Adrian Jones, claims the sign this week was a prank by 'anti-gentrification protesters' who object to the transformation it has seen in recent years.

He claims that someone it was an act of graffiti and speculated that it may have been done by the same group who vandalised the Ceral Killer cafe, a trendy breakfast bar that only serves cereal.

Loiacono, from London, is Italian and admits that sometimes he does not get British humour, hoping that some people could help him understand when he posted the picture.

The sign angered a number of his friends, with one, Darcy Spoon, writing: 'So do we need to have last bank statement and payslip to go be allowed in shops now?'

Another, Ludovica Consigli, wrote: 'I actually don't get what London is becoming.'

Dominique Miller wrote: 'I always get coffee there. Not anymore. Someone should let Class War know... That's disgusting.'

It was outside Goswell Road Coffee in Shoreditch, but owner Adrian Jones says that his staff were not responsible and blamed it on ant-gentrification protesters'

It was outside Goswell Road Coffee in Shoreditch, but owner Adrian Jones says that his staff were not responsible and blamed it on ant-gentrification protesters'

But many people attacked Loiacono for not understanding the humour in the sign.

On Twitter, blogger Old Holborn wrote: 'You sir, are a bad grass. If you don't get humour, at least leave the rest of us who do alone.' 

Comments underneath the picture became increasingly stooped in irony, playing on the trendy stereotype associated with the fashionable area.

The cafe chain, Brick Lane Coffee, seems to play on this reputation, boasts it has three shops across 'low-brow' areas of London and jokes it is a place 'where all organic milk and getting your order wrong has been our standard of excellence since 1999,' on its website. 

Some people were outraged by the chalkboard, saying they would never get coffee there again

Some people were outraged by the chalkboard, saying they would never get coffee there again

Other users attacked the man who posted it for not understanding the humour behind the sign

Other users attacked the man who posted it for not understanding the humour behind the sign

But some users though that the issue the sign touched upon was one that shouldn't be joked about

But some users though that the issue the sign touched upon was one that shouldn't be joked about

People commenting underneath the photo continue to build their ironic jokes, and even the owner appeared to attack his own cafe underneath the picture.

Mr Jones wrote: 'I will never buy coffee their again totally out of order it's not ironic hipster w*****s.'

He also writes: 'Whoever wrote that is a total c***.'

But some people were unamused by the sign, even if it was supposed to be ironic. 

Daniele Lama write: 'I would 'ironically' smash it on the owner's head.' 

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