Patch-wearing Hells Angels turn up at London restaurants as biker rivalry grows
An organized crime expert says the public display of Hells Angels colours is meant to intimidate and send a message to rivals.
By Dale Carruthers London Free Press August 18, 2026
https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/patch-wearing-hells-angels-turn-up-at-london-restaurants-as-biker-rivalry-grows
A man wearing a Hells Angels vest sits on the patio of a restaurant in London’s Old South neighbourhood.
His motorcycle helmet, bearing the letters AFFA – Angels Forever, Forever Angels – is perched atop his Harley-Davidson, decorated with the outlaw biker club’s Death Head logo, just metres away.
Just a few weeks earlier, nearly a dozen men wearing Hells Angels patches – leather vests bearing the club’s logo and chapter location – dined together at a south London steakhouse.
The presence of patch-wearing bikers at both restaurants unnerved some fellow customers and drew criticism from an organized crime expert.
“It’s all intimidation and flex. Should we allow it? Not at all,” said Paul Derry, an author and speaker on organized crime, of wearing outlaw biker gear in bars and restaurants. “Why should we allow them to put more of their propaganda out there and intimidate people?”
While it’s not illegal to wear outlaw biker patches and support gear, police in several Ontario cities have launched programs targeting individuals sporting it in public places.
Police in participating cities provide signs reading “No Gang Colours, No Gang Clothing” to local businesses and say the policy is enforced through the Trespass to Property Act. Businesses are instructed to call police to remove patrons who violate the rule.
In Sarnia, where an alleged member of the Outlaws was arrested after trying to lay a black-and-white wreath at the cenotaph during a Remembrance Day ceremony two years ago, police went a step further, placing signs in a public park prohibiting gang colours and clothing.
The OPP-led biker enforcement unit works with bars and restaurants frequented by outlaw bikers to ensure property owners know their rights, including the right to refuse service, said OPP Det.-Supt. Andrew Bradford of the organized crime enforcement bureau
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