to have created a scene in Chez Gerard

powder, it only happened once, and i bf my 2 dd's for 2 and 3 years respectively (though mainly at home once they were 1+)

You see, this is part of the reason i chose not to breastfeed. I get really flustered anyway if i take the children out, but to feel like you can't just feed your child wherever you like is terrible. I know people say just ignore it but it can be very difficult to ignore things when you have a baby. My hormones didnt calm down for months after i had my two.

went to Bank for mother's day, it was lovely and child friendly,and lots of colouring for the girls to do - but they were more interested in chatting with the singer inbetween songs

Ah, but most places ARE child unfriendly, if you find one or two that are great with kids, then good, but my experience of North London and Cambridgeshire is that you can't take a toddler (even a well-behaved one like mine) EVERYWHERE, not the posh sort of place with quality food any way. You can go to most chains, but then most chains have crap food by my standards. My favourite place at the moment is a Japanese rest. (not a chain), staff very prof. they have high chairs for smaller children, ds loves the food and we are all very happy there. Ds won't eat pizza, pasta or fish fingers or burgers or anything of the sort, so in fact i am restricted by his apetite for good fresh food !

lol powder!
I know - the manager came over to tell me that a man had complained, she said she felt she had to tell me even though it was company policy to be family friendly.

imo she should have told him his pizza was now a take-away-only option and not bothered me

bundle thats awful. When my dh was working in a restaurant a lady went into labour and her waters broke all over the floor. Some people complained that it had ruined their meal!!

the only time anyone ever complained about me breastfeeding dd1 was in Pizza Express, www

We tend to go independents most of the time, although the local chain coffee houses are very bemused by the four year old as she is a fully fledged coffee-shop addict. She's just disgusted that the closest she gets to actual coffee is foamed milk

I wouldn't have stood for the kind of attitude the original poster had to deal with, and I hope the matter was resolved in some way. It is absolutely fine for eateries and drinkeries to not want children on their premises, but they need to be up front about it, saves them wasting their own time and ours too. To advertise a child menus and such and then to throw children out is absurd and to be quite frank makes me want to add this chain to the list of places I'll no longer frequent. The power of words is huge. A friend once had an awful experience at a local coffee-house/cafe (was asked to leave because she was breastfeeding,I kid you not) and as far as I am aware, the group of about thirty people at the mums and toddlers have never frequnted the place since, and they all told their friends that it was an unsuitable place to be with kids, despite the large number of highchairs and such.

Agnes

My experience is that most places are pretty child friendly, and that officially Chez Gerard is "friendly" too, but that it's quality control when choosing managers has gone rather badly wrong.
That's a big challenge for chains, and makes it look like Chez Gerard has expanded past it's ability to run properly.

it pisses me off that most places are child unfriendly

I am at this thread! This is why I love my fave local independent cafe! They saw me with a growing bump and they coo over ds every time I go in. They don't mind buggies everywhere and if you want to sit upstairs they are more than happy to carry stuff for you.

I've eaten out a few times at various places though and never had anything other than help but there are obviously plenty of people out there who need a boot up the backside.

Glad I found this thread. That's another family of five they've lost the custom of then . A bit short sighted really when even mothers go out sometimes without children!

So I guess this Gerrard chappie won't be on Mumsnet local then ?

yes we all want to hear what chez gerard have to say on the matter! jeez - they are only selling duff steak and chips and baguettes french stylee after all - they should be grateful for customers

bump

Also powder, there used to be one in Bristol about 4yrs ago, it closed down though. It was a shame, as I was childfree at the time and they had a lovely little courtyard out the back.

nosey bump from me!

So, are Chez Gerard staf still bullying mothers with children ?

Poweder28, I've taken DCs in a buggy on a bus, and no one has raised an eyebrow, indeed some women have seen me struggle and offered help.

In American political idiom "buses" have all sorts of emotional resonances, as in black people being put at the back or denied access.

It took some top grade bloody mindedness to deal with this. Mothers with babies aren't of course in anything like the same depth of harassment, but conversely the battle is easier to win.

Chez Gerard have realised at some level the error of their ways. All it took was a bit of typing on MN, acquiring the right telephone and explaining the situation to the right person.

A big thing in militancy is your time vs theirs.
A good fighter isn't just someone who can hit hard, he also has to be able to take a punch.

Although I'm not advocating force one little bit, the principle applies equally to bloody minded holding your ground.

If you're going to deal with jobsworths then you have to be prepared to simply stand there causing trouble by your mere presence for enough time for them to realise that they either give in or call for reinforcements.
That will make you late, it will be inconvenient,and it's not impossible that threats will be made, but remember what I said about mobile phones ?

Just read your last post Margo - good for you and I hope heads are knocked together and left in a heap on the floor !

Is there one in bath or bristol yet?

Lets have a Mumnset meet up there , en mass with buggies & prams !

this thing really annoys me . Hope you do complan Margo .

I have to say I have NEVER seen a man getting on a bus with a buggy

I'm not someone who sees sexism everywhere, but..
I'm often have the kids out and about. No shop, restaurant, bus, or anything has ever once given me grief. Until this thread, I hadn't considered this unusual.
But if some jobsworth did cause hassle, then they really would find their life getting hard.
Not through violence, just a very loud bloody mindedness.
Most people understand that a tired mother who gets screwed around will usually just shrug her shoulders and move on.
A large tired bloke is quite likely to go right the other way. And though of course I wouldn't deck a jobsworth they have to take that risk into account.

I'm glad margotandjerry used the number I gave her, and I think this is the way forward. It took me a little while to get the number of the right person in Chez Gerard, and I can't claim that I'd think of it in real time duringargument in a restaurant.
But I would have simply stood there, with kids obdurately refusing to move whilst I did think up how to escalate.
Mobile phones are a great aid to the militant parent. Most have cameras which record voice as well. Great for corporate embarrassment , and proodf later when the jobsworth denies it all.