Trainers, No. Baseball bat, yes!
Door staff sometimes have reasons for the apparently odd things they do. Once I had been playing softball with a friend and we decided that a few pints were the next agenda item.

This was shortly after I had cut my hair down to a number 2 for the first (and only) time in my life. My hair is blonde and relatively fine ,so it looked like I was a complete skinhead, was quite thuggish and not really me.

I was wearing motorcycle boots, a leather jacket and was carrying what was obviously a baseball bat in a bag. On trying to get into a pub the doorman let me in but refused entry to my friend - "trainers mate, sorry, can't let you in". I was already at the bar and about to order - I went back when I realised that my friend was still outside - on finding out that he wasn't getting in, we went elsewhere.

For ages I thought that that event was a bit odd - skinhead with a baseball bat, fine let him in. Bloke wearing trainers, barred. Doesn't make sense at first but I have since had it explained to me - the more savvy door security types know that it's easier to avoid grief by barring entry to the friends of the idiot they *don't* want in their place, rather than giving some overly aggressive little twerp the tiny excuse they think justifies the subsequent need to make a complete twat of themself. If the door staff do it right the group toddles off with little or no confrontation and all is fine; it worked perfectly on us without us realising we were being manipulated.
(Wascally Weasel now with 100% fewer jokes., Fri 1 Sep 2006, 16:42, Reply)