Did anyone else's parents leave them outside the pub?

[Itswaytoohot]

They were just talking about this on TV and it reminded me. Growing up in the 80s and early 90s most pubs didn't allow children.

Sometimes my parents would take us anyway and leave us outside with crisps and pop, either in the car park or beer garden. If we got bored we were just told to go away and play.

I also remember being sneaked into the pub once and the landlord coming and telling my parents we had to leave.

Did anyone else's parents ever do this? It wouldn't be acceptable now.

Feel free to add any other things your parents did that would be frowned upon now. Intended to be lighthearted.

Well then SS would have had a VERY big case load!
Perfectly normal in 80s & 90s - my parents used to go inside & leave DB & I to play in the beer garden or car. Got to learn quickly which pubs had good play areas/beer gardens (one had a fabulous treehouse over a river & another had several trampolines).
Also vividly remember loitering outside the doors trying to get DPs attention if we needed the loo or another drink etc.

In the 80s my dad us d to take us to a pub that had a play area in the garden, we were allowed inside but generally just went in for more drinks or snacks or to use the loo!

Child of the 60's here but we weren't left on our own outside the pub, on a sunny Sunday evening we would all get in the car and have a "Sunday ride" which was a tour round some of the local villages ending with a stop at a village pub. Dad would then go in the pub and bring drinks and crisps out to the car for us all on a tray. After one drink the glasses were returned and we set off back home.

Oh we did that sort of thing more frequently too, but when there was other adults & kids involved, there were definitely occasions we were left outside to entertain ourselves with other kids too. It wasn't a regular thing, but it happened & was normal, even my DM thought it "common"

Not in the winter but in the summer, all the other kids from the estate would be there too. Loved the smell of beer and fags drifting out of the windows, the sounds of adults laughing, seemed so mysterious to us kids then. Tizer and golden wander crisps.

Yes in the late 80s/early 90s, 3 of us left in the car with a packet of crisps and bottle of Panda Pops! This was my dad, my mum wouldn’t t have done this.

We also used to ride in the back of his transit van sitting on a plank of wood, definitely not legal, WTF Dad.

No. My parents would have called SS if they saw anyone doing this

Who would have done precisely the sum of fuck all. The social workers were probably doing the same.

yep, either in the car with a bottle of pop and bag of crisps..
or worse, then my mum worked saturdays we would be in the smoked filled pub, with a bottle of pop and cherry (if we were lucky) and have the delight of helping a drunk dad home. Plus my mum would than blame us (the kids) for dad being drunk. Happy days (not).

They wouldn't have got very far in the 60s and 70s....my aunt was a social worker and she did it too!

Yes. My sister and I spent many Saturday evenings on a picnic bench with a couple of bags of smiths crisps and a drink.
We quite enjoyed it.

Yep! Our local had one of those plastic tree play equipment things and a make shift see saw. Would get a jelly and ice cream flavour panda pop and those crisps you put your own salt on. I remember once I fell off the see saw and cracked my head open and had to be taken to a&e. Still got a huge scar!

My DP’s used to regularly leave my sibling and I outside the pub in the summer, we would be given a drink or crisps every other round. At one pub it felt quite safe to be left and we enjoyed the freedom, we would wander off around the village. But at a couple of other more rural pubs it was quite scary, the beer gardens were not in sight of the pub. DP’s thought we were ok outside, they would check on us between rounds, however I was convinced we were going to be kidnapped!

They wouldn't have got very far in the 60s and 70s....my aunt was a social worker and she did it too!

3 social workers id DFs family & it was a regular thing Saturday for them all 😂

We did and in some pubs it was common place for pubs to have an extra little sort of shop which had a tuck shop type arrangement that the kids could buy pop and sweets.

Me and sister would 'collect' car registration numbers!!

Yes, mine did this. I used to play with the kids of my dad's friends and have a great time. I remember having cans of fizzy drinks that in a weird can with knobbles on the bottom. Does anyone else remember these? It's been bugging me for ages!

In 60s and maybe 70s, kids weren't allowed to see the bar so there was always a room where children could go. Like a snug. We were taken in there on the odd occasion we went.

Yes!! Hours spent alone in a car waiting!

We used to be allowed inside the working men's club with coke and crisps (the only time we were ever allowed them) with my grandads mates constantly topping up our drinks and snacks when we were running low. We loved it, it was such a treat.

@YodaBabe that would have been the 'offie' as in Off Licence, what the hell happened to those?

Late night supermarkets.

Yes, I believe it was standard to be left in the car in the pub car park in the 1970's. Not even access to be able to use the loo.

To be fair on the rare occasion my parents went to the pub it was one with a beer garden and children could sit in that. We had to enter through a side gate. Strictly no children in the pub.

It's wasn't much fun.

Yes, even at our local pub we got left in the car or garden. The thing was I was in the same class at school as the landlords daughter, so I often called round and went into the landlords flat to play with her.
I also remember playing on building sites and being left outside to "guard " my sister's pram when DM went into a shop/bank/post office.
Things were a bit different in the 70's.

Oscar winning short film by Andrea Arnold called Wasp shines a light on this from today's perspective. Quite an uncomfortable watch at times but it's brilliant what can be depicted in 24 minutes. You can view it here (with Spanish subtitles) www.facebook.com/watch/?v=622999324767884

I do remember playing by a road outside a pub for quite a while, perhaps left? I think it may have been by the roadside seating area but can't be sure because memories can be false.

I was definitely taken to the pub a lot, in the beer garden, but they are fond memories and I often take mine to the pub also and have some drinks and a chill. Many nice beer gardens near us.

I got left outside a shop in a buggy, as that was where you got left while mum and dad went in. Dad forgot about me and went home then realised.

One of my local pubs has one of the original climbing (bouldering) walls tucked away inside it gathering dust. My friends dad (famous climber) used to put my friend in there whilst he drunk with his mates in the pub in the 80s.

Yep, Saturday night treat was getting taken out for a bag of chips. Then being left on the wall of the pub to eat them whilst my dad had a few pints. Very common in the ‘80s.