“We’re pleased to welcome Stonegate Pub Partners as a sponsor for the Great British Pub Awards 2026” read a post(（帖子）写道) on the event’s Facebook page. Within minutes it had backfired(适得其反).
“我们很高兴欢迎Stonegate酒吧合伙公司成为2026年英国伟大酒吧奖的赞助商”，该活动的Facebook页面上的一篇帖子写道。几分钟之内，它就适得其反了。
“Must be 1st April again(肯定又是愚人节),” said one commenter. “This is like Pontius Pilate(本丢·彼拉多，审判耶稣的罗马总督) being appointed child welfare ambassador,” said another. Other comments about the UK’s largest pub company were significantly less polite.
“肯定又是4月1日了，”一位评论者说。“这就像本丢·彼拉多被任命为儿童福利大使一样，”另一位说。其他关于这家英国最大酒吧公司的评论则远没有那么客气。
Days earlier, Stonegate had been named as the subject of an investigation by the industry regulator(监管机构), the Pubs Code Adjudicator (PCA) over alleged(涉嫌的，被指控的) mistreatment of the tenants(租户，承租人) who run more than 3,000 of its venues.
几天前，Stonegate被行业监管机构——酒吧法规仲裁员（PCA）列为调查对象，原因是涉嫌虐待其3000多家门店的经营者（租户）。