Raffles lycra ban official

A week after the Raffles Hotel denied it had a "no lycra" policy, it has adopted one.

A sign put up at the weekend warned that management reserved the right to refuse admission or service to people failing to comply with dress requirements that included neat casual dress, no high-vis work wear, no dirty work wear, no board shorts and no "lycra cycle wear".

_The West Australian _ reported last week that a group of four cyclists was turned away from breakfast at the Applecross hotel after a staff member told them it had a "strict policy of no lycra".

Raffles management later denied there was a lycra ban, saying the problem was the danger posed by big groups of cyclists who had no way of storing their bikes safely.

But Colonial Leisure Group State operations manger Vern Fogarty said yesterday there had been a change of heart triggered by the strong social media response to the story, which he said was overwhelmingly in support of a lycra ban.

"We've officially changed our policy as of Friday," he said.