Had to leave Costa as breastfeeding was taking too long

@lauraloulou1 Bit extreme. Maybe she doesn't know the law? As for her getting sacked, selling age restricted items to underage customers is unlikely to get you sacked and that's also breaking the law, and that is drummed into retail workers even if you don't sell age restricted goods. I did once get asked what I'd do if I saw a breastfeeding woman when I worked in Sainsbury's café and said I wouldn't do anything, even though I myself didn't know the law at the time.

I've spent hours sitting in Costa with my mate writing stories and never got asked to leave.
(Edited for grammar.)

If this is true then the is really sad and shocking and could be the end of someone’s breastfeeding journey being treated like that in public. I’d contact the newspapers about this tbh. Really get it out there and shame them for this!

Do they ask people to leave now? I don't frequent Costa, but have never heard this. Obviously if someone is in there for hours on one drink on their laptop that is fair enough though. The OP still had food to be eaten and assuming they were not about to close, 40 minutes is no time for a catch up over coffee and cake.

Protecting breastfeeding mothers doesn't mean using outrageously sexist insults towards minimum wage working women is okay.

Make a formal complaint, both the café manager and the chain

With her 3rd child.

But you don't have to be a parent to know the law anyway and there's always Google.

I suggest contacting papers or making this more public. This is outrageous! So many people stay hours in coffee shops on their laptop this is not acceptable from the member of staff.

If they're asking everyone and applying a blanket rule to move all customers on after X time, that's fine albeit stupid when the place is half empty. It wouldn't be illegal to include a breastfeeding woman in that. But they shouldn't mention breastfeeding at all, because it ought to be irrelevant.

Yes, though I was saddened that a law was necessary to begin with.

I don't think what happened would occur in most Costa branches, OP let us know the response to your complaint.

Because it sounds like the sort of thing someone would write to get people frothing at the mouth.

I mean, who leaves CAKE?? 😂

I've breastfed two of them. Exclusively for 6 months and then carrying on till 14 months. Eating over the baby's head was a rite of passage. One OP has confirmed she is fully on board with and that the neither of them (including the friend was not breastfeeding) touching their cake for 40 minutes was because of chatting not feeding.

All of which is beside the point that what I said was "ridiculous" was anyone being asked to leave a cafe when they hadn't finished what they had bought there. The not eating for 40 minutes is less noteworthy than the actions of the staff member. But not entirely unnoteworthy!

I'm horrified for you OP. I've spent many an hour in Costa on mat leave and beyond because they were the only place with decent dairy free cake offerings when I was feeding my CMPA baby. I had a very inefficient feeder and would sit in Costa for ages until I was done. I've also sat for ages with a book and nothing been said. Anyone working in Costa has always been fab when I've had baby with me, offering to bring my food over, opening doors etc. I think the person you dealt with has absolutely gone rogue! Don't let it put you off going back.

I think they must have told all their staff something at Costa, it's the same in ours where they ask people to leave if they've been there a while - for whatever reason. It's shocking they did that while you still had food in front of you though. It would have been better to politely ask if you could finish up within x time.

You need a cake refund for being told to leave and door held open for you to go quickly
You also need to tell us which branch to out them and nearby MNs can go down breastfeeding in support!

@SawItOnTikTokI don’t think that can be described as ‘entitled’. I read it as the PP musing on the difference between using a DFS sofa vs a chair that someone is selling privately. It is mildly interesting from a legal perspective. The mention of a court case is clearly a joke, as you acknowledged yourself.

Yes, you did

FFS, are people on here so narrow-minded that they only believe something if they have experienced it themselves?

Was it closing time? Do we know this?

I'm appalled at this. The employee was using a spurious excuse to get you out of Costa because you were breastfeeding, not because you had been sat there for 40 minutes!
I sit in Nero for 2 hours with friends on one drink - it's usually pretty busy. Have also had meetings and meet-ups in Costa which have def gone on for an hour or so with just one drink.
I haven't bf'd for 22 years, but even when I did I never got thrown out of any establishments and I'm not sure the law was in place then. I bf'd in a lot of coffee shops - chains and not. Although I have to say I didn't' bf in public until about 5 weeks post-partum as I just wasn't confidient enough.

I look forward to seeing Costa's response with some two-bit excuse.

On baby 3

I believe some individual may have had the audacity to do this, law or no law.

I hope https://www.instagram.com/costacoffee/
responds properly, OP. That should haven't happened to you.

lucky you - i was in a café once when a breastfeeding woman was asked to leave. 3 separate people, not connected with her, and I told the member of staff to stop or face the consequences of breaking the law.

Personally? even nearly 30 years ago, i bf all over UK and Europe and only encountered lovely friendly people.

Yes, that's the weird bit - plus hold the door open for them to leave!

It's illegal anywhere in the UK.
Also, particularly strange in an empty café after only 40 mins.

I didn't say you need to experience something yourself to find someone else's experience unlikely. You appeared to think that the fact that something was not in accordance with people's personal experience would be a valid reason for doubting it happened. Which would be ridiculous.

What is even more ridiculous is the number of people on here who seem to be unaware of MN's rules on troll hunting.