Why This Guest-House Owner Won't Give Gay Couples a Break; a Four- Night Stay in a B&B - It Seemed a Reasonable Request. But Tom Forrest's Refusal to Let Two Men Sleep in a Double Bed has Kickstarted a Far-Reaching Chain of Events. By Jennifer Cunningham

Summary

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IN his knee breeches, green wool stockings, deerstalker and grizzly beard, Tom Forrest might appear the perfect sitcom caricature of a Highlands guest-house owner. He combines courteousness with strong opinions, expressed in the west of Scotland accent of his childhood in Renfrewshire. A military career that ended with injury suffered during a war, which he will not be specific about, has given him an upright bearing, forthright manner and a war pension to supplement the earnings from the B&B and the outdoor supplies shop he runs in the former village hall in Kinlochewe.

Up at the guest house, the sign at the roadside tells visitors that walkers and cyclists are welcome. Wheelchair users, vegetarians, vegans and coeliac sufferers who require a gluten-free diet are also all welcome at Cromasaig B&B.

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Extract

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Why This Guest-House Owner Won't Give Gay Couples a Break; a Four- Night Stay in a B&B - It Seemed a Reasonable Request. But Tom Forrest's Refusal to Let Two Men Sleep in a Double Bed has Kickstarted a Far-Reaching Chain of Events. By Jennifer Cunningham

There is no indication that in this neat, white-painted house on the single-track road through the Beinn Eighe nature reserve to Loch Torridon, Monarch of the Glen merges with Fawlty Towers. That is until the owner informs us that smokers can only indulge their filthy habit outside and that lesbians and gay men are also welcome - as long as they don't want to share a double bed. "We've had same- sex couples here bef...

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