The Gardies boycott has been halted after only a few hours of activity after the owner of the takeaway pledged to put in place procedures to prevent future sexual assaults.

The student behind the boycott, the pseudonymous ‘Cantab Smith’, posted a statement on the campaign’s Facebook page earlier today, thanking the owner of Gardies for his co-operation.

“As a campaign, we are satisfied and wholly encouraged by the response from Gardies and from its owner, and as pledged, this boycott is thus over,” it reads. “This page will be unpublished, as was always the intention, and its private ownership transferred to the CUSU Women's Campaign, or another appropriate body, for use if future instances arise.”

Any further additions to the campaign, such as anonymous testimonials, are now advised to be directed to CUSU. 'Cantab Smith' also posted on Facebook that the Facebook page can be "reactivated with ease" in the future should further allegations arise.

The campaign's closing statement also concedes that "As with any small campaign that exploded within 6 hours, mistakes were indeed made". This could refer to criticism posted to the campaign page, including one member who said: "it's very risky to leave the onus with Gardies to sort it, although I know without legal complainants it's hard to know what else to do".

More controversially, Spiked Online published an article entitled 'Save Gardies from the Stepford Students', which compared the 'Boycott Gardies' campaign to "the Klu Klux Klan" who "used the unproven, un-investigated word of rape complainants to justify lynching young black men". 

Appended to the campaign’s statement is a further statement by Vas Anastasiou, the owner of Gardies, to whom Cantab Smith extends "thanks and warm wishes" for a prompt response. The statement details three steps to remedy the situation: an internal investigation, a website with a complaints procedure, and a new employee code of conduct.

Anastasiou's statement outlines "warnings" that have already been issued to staff, in light of the recent allegations. The owner is "confident that identity of the perpetrator(s) will be made manifest shortly", and is prepared to re-hire staff should the internal investigation prove unfruitful. 

The Gardies website reads: "This site is currently under construction. Please check back at a later time." It is understood that the development of "a well-marked facility for informing the boss directly of complaints or concerns" is underway on the website, which Anastasiou says in his comment to the 'Boycott Gardies' page "will be dealt with in a manner proportional to the severity of the issue".

Finally, Anastasiou has stated that there will be a "low tolerance" for breaches of the new employee contract, with possible "termination" of employment. 

The owner finished by expressing his "sincerest apologies to the victims involved" for the "indignities suffered" at the Gardenia.