No children in pub after 5pm

Ah so you must be the lesser spotted 1% of pub owners (according to devonshiregirls statistics) who actively welcomes families !

If you don't like alcohol this is the worst thing you can do. Making alcohol into a secret 'adult' activity rather than demystifying it and normalising responsible drinking.

I mean TBF, DH and I don’t frequent the very family friendly pubs much these days as are DC are teenagers who are doing their own thing or just sit quietly in an adult pub. We find that the very family friendly pubs are always full at the weekend as tables are full with inter generational dinners, or groups of parents with young DC eating which can take most of the pub up.

Sounds lovely, ours is the same, a focal point for the community.

Parents failing to parent their children is causing issues here. They used to allow kids all evening, then 8pm and most recently it's outside only because of a small subset of parents letting their kids run around. Pubs are not playgrounds, sit and chat to your child. In fact my local does turn a blind eye to very well behaved children or teens enjoying the live music but the published no kids is displayed so they can quickly act against the nightmare ones

I don't think kids should be in wet led pubs at all as a general rule.

Obviously pubs that do food with kids menus will welcome children up till a certain time at least because it's a restaurant as well essentially.

Free range pissed up sports fans put me off

If a pub has a play area it is good fun to go and have a drink of pop and some crisps. It was rare treat when I was young.

Most of the 'running riot' I see in pubs comes from adult men

We live in a City and there are no pubs with playgrounds, only a few have small gardens, there are certain pubs that are definitely family friendly mainly because their own DC are present.

I hate kids in pubs. I'd happily eat in one that had the banned them, to be honest. It's not the right environment for children.

As always we’ve now got the usual “the UK is so anti-child!!!!” posters when in reality I think the opposite is true. Society has forgotten that anyone other than families exist, and everywhere must be family-friendly.

It’s there in OP’s opening post - pub is surrrounded by houses, which of course must be full of families because no other type of household exists or needs catered to in any way.

I would love an adult space where I could go for peace and quiet but even the much-suggested afternoon tea for its ambience has been taken over where I am, by parents of kids who “love the tiny little sandwiches” (and running around the tables).

Whilst some parents let their kids run riot, that is seen as poor behaviour. And pub staff can have some definitive grounds to step in. The worse issue is the parents that let their kids wave and chat to diners who feel obliged to engage. And staff can’t really intervene.

When my kids were kind of young and cute, I knew that was subjective and would not have dreamed of letting them approach and ‘chat’ to strangers having a meal out. Many parents are stupid and deluded.

This it’s up to the pub and they have obviously decided the family market isn’t their focus

The owners are probably fed up with children running around causing mayhem whilst their parents are happily getting pissed. Free range children put a lot of adults off, if i had just finished work and decide to eat out and spend £60 on dinner and drinks i wouldn't want to have my dinner ruined by noisy unruly children. Most parents have control of their children but it only takes one family to ruin everyone's evening.

That, and also people coming in for meals is a bigger part of pub clientele than it would've been a few decades back. If we picked one adult in one pub at random, they'd be more likely to be in there eating than they would've been say 30 years ago.

Wow.
Just goes to show how often I go to the pub!
Do you know when this rule changed

Yes.

You must live in a magical area if the majority aren’t utter dickheads with their kids. Also that adults can be trusted not to swear badly, drink too much and not accidentally wave cigarettes dangerously near kids faces as they scurry by in the garden. Genuinely very pleased for you - if only this were the case everywhere.

That was like the pub we went to. One PFB performing the same routine announcing herself as if she was on Stars in their Eyes, over and over. The sibling was running around annoying other kids. Mama and Papa did nothing to get them to behave. The pub is in a nicer part of town but I'd rather be in a backstreet boozer with no kids.

Not true- our local pub holds regular kid focused events, has a shelf of board games for families to use, and the landlady will always come over for a cuddle with a baby. Kids are also welcome until 9pm. It's a real centre of the community place, but no playground!

We quite often used to make a picnic, get some drinks and let the kids play in the park with their friends for hours making dens and climbing trees while we chatted and had a few drinks. Some of mine and the kids favourite times. Cheap, fun, let the kids have some freedom (around the ages of 7 to 10 especially good) but we were near enough for any issues. We weren't getting rat arsed. Yet a bit merry. Come sunset kids exhausted and fed, quick bath, stories then bed. Sometimes one less drinking/non drinking parent would take a few of the kids for a sleepover or we would all pile back to ours order a takeaway and let the kids watch a film.

Probably because many parents stopped parenting. When they decided that their children should be allowed to do exactly as they want regardless of anyone else’s comfort.

I was a child in the 50s to 60s and had to sit in the car outside the pub on my own for hours.

I would never do that to my own child.

I think pubs with gardens are ideal for children to go with parents if they want to go to the pub, but have no problem with pubs not wanting children inside the pub in the evening.

I thought kids were only allowed in pubs when being served food.
Am I completely out of date here?