Earlier today, Judge Isobel Brownlie said the bakery had discriminated against Gareth Lee when it refused to fulfil an order for a cake with a slogan in support of gay marriage.

General manager Daniel McArthur said: "We're extremely disappointed with the judgment. We've said from the start that our issue was with the message on the cake, not the customer and we didn't know what the sexual orientation of Mr Lee was, and it wasn't relevant either. We've always been happy to serve any customers that come into our shops.

"The ruling suggests that all business owners will have to be willing to promote any cause or campaign no matter how much they disagree with it. Or as the Equality Commission has suggested, they should perhaps just close ...