Child only area in restaurant- discriminatory?

I took a very young sleeping baby in ( who is fed and settled beforehand) not a pair of shrieking 4 year olds. Tad different

Bingo.

Unfortunately if you have your own, you then can't expect others to endure what you yourself dislike.

I find it punishment having to be near other people's kids.

I’ve got kids and I think it’s a brilliant idea.

You would think with the declining birthrate more pubs and eateries would cater to the childfree instead of pandering to parents and letting screaming brats run riot.

How do you find out before the event?
Plus, find it amusing that to be with other children means punishment!

It's always a choice to go eat in a pub or not, it's not mandatory?

What struck you as odd about it, OP?

Surely you can’t be suggesting that you wanted to have a quiet meal, free from the noise of other people’s children? 😂

Obviously I can only go by my own experience but 'soft play' isn't an accurate description. It's just a small play area.

Why weren’t you at home, OP, cooking your child a home made meal from scratch? @Buyalot

The OP has a 14 month old and started a thread on a supposed discriminatory policy - so seemed like a fair point of reference. But agreed, I could not read your mind and determine that you had set your own thread parameters.

When you are seated, you do not know what nearby people’s children will be like, feral or otherwise - so not ‘forced’ but not a choice either.

It’s not cheap to eat out so I think the policy is a good one and likely to be making them money.

You are being ridiculous! There is a pub near me that have a carvery and a pub grub-style restaurant. There is a a specific area where they seat families with young children - it has a tv showing Disney films on repeat and a little area. We have sat there in the past but not lately (DS has recently turned 10 but is tall and is usually mistaken by strangers to be about 12) - I think that must be when they stop families sitting there.

But babies, toddlers and young children are loud and make unexpected noises. I think it is fair enough to sit them away from adults and younger children so everyone can enjoy themselves

Glad I tended not to go in places like that when my kids were young. Obviously made a mistake with my newborn but never went in that pub since ( used the other one in the village instead for 20 plus years)

I could take my kids out for dinner regularly in spain and they were able to behave and eat properly without being relegates to a kids area .

A pub local to us will only allow children in the restaurant side, no dogs allowed in the pub at all, no phones or tablets either or gaming machines. It does have a fantastic pub garden where there are no restrictions. It is always heaving and very popular as the food is wonderful.

I wouldn't like this either as you can imagine the kids in the soft play will be feral. Also the whole idea of a soft play at a pub/restaurant doesn't seem right to me. Surely they shouldn't be hurtling round that when out for a meal? Definitely not the kind of place I would want to go. I think part of going out for a meal with kids is to ensure they have good manners/behaviour and are able to sit at the table for the meal duration.

These were a godsend when my lot were small, it meant not having to worry about shitty looks off child free tables if one of them so much as whinged.

It’s not a punishment. It’s the business model of this pub which, as the family area was busy when OP arrived, has clearly found it works well for them. Parents who don’t want to sit in the family area are free to choose to go elsewhere, the same as anyone else might choose to go elsewhere if something didn’t suit them.

We all know that less and less people are having kids because society doesn't make people conform to having kids they don't really want like it used to! When you've got more child free people about you have to expect to businesses to want to treat those people equally!
My partner and I went into the beer garden of a local pub in summer that has play equipment in it, the screeching was awful! Constant screeching and screaming and zombie parents sat there doing nothing! That's another reason that forces places to do this because screaming non stop drives other customers away! I would be wary of going to that beer garden again!

Also for those mothers that demand their right to sit with with boobs fully out to breast feed because they hate covering up, you get your own area to do that without forcing awkwardness on everyone. A separate parent and child area is win win

So punish the decent parents due to the scumbags?

Where am I saying about 14 month old? Kids that are well behaved at can eat properly at tables are generally older and toilet trained

And it's not a choice of you are forced to sit amongst other people's feral kids

A beautifully behaved 14 month old sitting behind you can also fill their nappy with enormous amounts of poo just as you are sitting down to enjoy your meal…

There are plenty of places to eat out, I have 2 (now older) DC myself but think this is a great choice to have.

The business has to cater for their local demographic or go out of business - that is what they appear to be doing, so good luck to them.

Am sorry, not all parents take their crying baby outside. Not all parents stop their children running around and screaming either. See other post here about mum giving children a whistle while in a restaurant!

Let's face it, if parents were more considerate like they were in the old days (not saying all parents are bad), then perhaps this wouldn't even be an issue and no childrens area needed.

Sounds like a brilliant idea to me if it means I don’t have to put up with badly behaved children when I go out to eat.

But it's not just a 14 month old Would be most kids under 12.

And take kid out if it cries. I removed a 3 month old from a " family" restaurant because he cried and I didn't want to disturb others

Yes this. I rang a carvery to book once and got told we would have to sit in the children’s area. I felt the same as you plus it was for a meaL with my very poorly parent who also had a hearing problem. I said no thanks and went elsewhere.

Also parenting was different. I spend my first 10 years(70-80's) travelling back and fourth with my parents and 3 brothers but they just wouldn't have put up with any nonsense. But they were the sort of parents who would bring us in from the garden if we were making too much noise, out of resect for neighbours. That kind of parenting is a bit rarer and certainly not the norm.