No children in pub after 5pm

Plenty of pubs are very happy to have families, you do not speak for everyone

If it was terrible business they wouldn’t have made the decision. I much prefer a pub without kids.

It’s pretty sad if the parents can’t go without alcohol while supervising their children in the playground.

Personally, I'd prefer if kids weren't allowed in pubs at all. But that would apply to other adult places too. I've been to art galleries and book reviews where kids have been running around and bawling their eyes out.

I've even been to a lecture/presentation on Public Health Utilities where they had to stop while was a woman was politely asked to take her upset and agitated child outside so we could hear what was being said.

Each to their own 🤷‍♀️

My favourite pub is one that doesn't allow children, it's gorgeous, quiet and relaxed. Outside of places like Wetherspoons or places with playgrounds geared specifically towards families, I don't really think kids have any business being in a pub at all.

Less sad for the children though than parents drinking in the pub whilst their children mooch about the place aimlessly, ignored and bored witless.

Definitely. I don't know if you were young enough to be lagged to the pub when it was still filled with cigarette smoke as well. People have such a toxic relationship with alcohol, feel like this thread is making excuses and suggesting alternatives to getting sloshed with the kids present.

I can't image a sadder image than a parent drinking cans in a playground.

I remember in the late 70s early 80s we would be sat in a pub on a saturday with a packet of crisps and a Lemonade apparently it was after a walk but we would basically just walk to the pub !

my friend had a pub for years and they ended up “banning” children except for Sunday lunch as increasingly parents would just let them run riot. ..

Agree that a pub really isn't a place for a child. I was the child in the pub every day , I hated it and its definitely not a suitable establishment for children. It's an adult environment

If it is a food place, or a beer garden with play area for the summer, that’s ridiculous and they will lose a lot of custom.

Neither of those things and I would say it’s not a place for children anyway.

Good. I much prefer child free pubs in the evening.

Depends what kind of local it is. We have two within walking distance. One is a local and definitely what I'd class as an adults pub, young lads are in there in a Saturday afternoon after work, people 'pre load' before heading into town, not the sort of place you'd want to take your kids tbh. The other is very family friends with lots of children running about and also has an indoor and outdoor play area. I don't have an issue with either, but it's up to the landlord who he wants to cater for:

There’s a million other places for kids to go, never really understood why the pub needs to be one of them…

Evenings are when the pub is aiming to be making most of its money from dinner service and adults drinking alcohol. Tables buying mostly cheap kiddie meals and soft drinks are wasted space. But has any child ever actually enjoyed being dragged to the pub? I genuinely don’t understand why parents do it, take your kid to a playground and take some pre-mixed cocktails or cans with you. Taking children to the pub is just shitty for other customers who get annoyed by badly behaved children, shitty for staff who have to field the complaints, and shitty for the children who ultimately behave badly because they’re bored and not being properly supervised.

What type of pub is it? A drinking focussed pub or a food focussed pub?

I can tell you from working in bars that its not a financial issue. Kids are usually plied with Mi Wadi or some other squash which is about the cheapest thing you can order. Some bars don't even charge for it, its that expendable.

Generally, in bars, children are a nuisance and a hazard. Sloshed parents aren't keeping an eye on them, staff carrying trays and glasses have to double-up as babysitters, and god forbid a child would slip on a wet floor you'd never hear the end of it from the parents.

Yup, their business their choice.

we have a pub near us that’s no kids after 5pm, however it’s what you would call a drinkers pub and is a really old building with open fires so not exactly safe for kids! But I respect that people want to go there to have child free time, pre-kids I avoided kid friendly pubs like the plague!!

however if they do kids food and have a playground, yes it’s weird to say no kids post 5pm. I do agree with previous poster though that pubs aren’t really child friendly environments where people are drinking significant amounts of alcohol.

From reading the comments, I suppose mine would be an unpopular opinion, but I don't think children belong in environments where alcohol is being consumes in large quantities at all. There is enough of a drinking problem in this part of the world that we don't need to normalise drinking in front of impressionable children.

Yes. And if it loses them business, or if the lost business is more of an issue than children running riot, they’ll change back to previous rules.

It certainly sounds as though this might be the case.

I assume even parents would like some child free time now and again.

For them to extend the child free time, it suggests either the post 7pm ban has been a roaring success or they've had major problems with kids in the 5-7pm window.

No pub actually wants kids there; they are often unruly and badly parented by parents just getting sloshed.

They reluctantly accept them for business reasons.

If they haven't got a kids playground then that tells you kids are admitted with gritted teeth,