A Dunedin bar that has been getting flooded with fake one-star reviews online after it announced it would continue requiring customers to show vaccine passes is now celebrating its "biggest week" of the year.
Woof! co-owner Dudley Benson made headlines last week when he attempted to reach some of those who had left the one-star reviews, including a kiwifruit lab technician, a bank business intelligence manager and "two evangelical Christian brothers, builders from Whangārei".
Just a few days on, while the one-star reviews and homophobic abuse "continue to flow in", the bar has also experienced its biggest week in 2022.
Benson said on Twitter that Google was "removing those reviews every day or so" and thanked everyone for flagging them.
Benson said he had attempted to contact the people who left the fake reviews in an effort to hold them accountable.
While Benson didn't manage to speak to all the "reviewers" in person, he said it "[felt] great to take some power back" by making contact.
"I'm fed up with randoms trying to sabotage what our team have worked so hard for, without any consequences," he tweeted. "PS Honestly, don't mess with a queer business please."
Requirements for businesses to show vaccine passes, and most vaccine mandates, were dropped by the Government last Monday night.
