A leading figure in Bristol’s hospitality industry is appealing for help as he prepares to spend a day in jail – all in aid of charity.
Raphael Herzog, Chair of the Bristol Hoteliers Association, is being locked up next week and needs charitable colleagues, friends, family, business partners and customers to help bail him out.
Bail for the BHA boss has been set at a minimum of £999 – all of which will be donated to Children’s Hospice South West.
Jail & Bail Bristol 2022 is a fund-raising initiative being run by the charity, whereby nominated supporters are arrested, charged with their crimes and placed on trial.
If found guilty of what the charity describes as their ‘wicked and entirely fictional crimes’ which, it says, they inevitably will be, they will be taken into custody, photographed, and banished to the cells, only to be released if they can raise the required ‘bail’.
Raphael will be one of a dozen defendants who will find themselves facing a ‘no nonsense’ judge in what used to be Bridewell Police Station in the city centre on Friday 25 March.
Children’s Hospice South West had been chosen as this year’s charity to benefit from the BHA’s annual Night Of The Stars Awards event, a glittering gala which took place last month and which raised more than £1,200 for the charity through a raffle.
He said: “During the night of stars event, I found myself agreeing to take part in jail and bail, so I will be spending a day in prison on 25 March, unless my kind colleagues and friends and business partners in Bristol club together to release the bail to let me out.”
Raphael has been accused of failing to admit he is a workaholic, something he will almost certainly be found guilty of considering how hard he has worked during the pandemic, campaigning for government support for the hospitality industry and championing his industry’s cause.
He added: “It’s a pleasure and a privilege to be able to help a charity which does provides such vital and valuable support to families in and around our city.
“But I do need to get back to the day job, there are other bars that need my attention, so I hope people will be generous and raise the bail needed to secure my release – and at the same time, help a wonderful charity.”
