My dd popped to the pub this afternoon.

[Ponchodreams]

My dd has been at her friend's this afternoon. When she got home she informed me that they'd both popped in the local pub for a drink and a packet of crisps. Now I'm sure this was a lovely afternoon for them both and I don't suspect them of any dodgy behaviour, but they are only 12😨!! I am slightly bemused by this as it's ridiculous, but would you say anything to the pub???

Perhaps they weren't drinking alcohol.
But it's an adult environment where a lot of people are drinking alcohol and it's not a safe place for unaccompanied children.

And tbh I don't see normalising going to the pub a particularly healthy thing to encourage teenagers to do.

I've not RTFT so apologies if this has been said. Generally, 14 and over are allowed in licensed premises unaccompanied (which is usually the youngest you can work).

It's possible they believed them to be that age. It's also possible they thought they had parents outside and had been sent in for a J20 etc.

Depending on the pub, if it's a family food type place, it's really not much different to them visiting a coffee shop or cafe, which is very normal for their age. Lots of cafes are also licensed.

They are allowed to buy non alcoholic drinks. She told you where they were. They had a nice afternoon. What's the issue?

The pub has done nothing wrong. License laws refer to the sale of alcohol nothing else. Ma y pubs have their own rules about unaccompanied under 16s especially ‘boozers’ where alcohol sales are the prominent thing.. but most do not. No law broken no drama to be found.

Just to point out - at a pub I ran the local darts League admitted age 14 and over so whilst these under 18s were within a group that often had over 18s they were not with parents etc.

The young ones often arrived early and had a soft drink whilst waiting for the whole team.

This was not in breach of our license, as we served food, it was before midnight, and they were 14 and over. That was always around 7pm.

I remember visiting in laws who live in the north and having been for a walk to the local shops on a Sunday afternoon now exh and I with baby dd in her pram popped into the local pub garden m like we did every Sunday at home

husband was just about to head indoors to get drinks when the landlord came storming out absolutely apoplectic. He came out Screaming that we should get out and when I tried to explain that we hadn’t realised that the rules were still different he called us liars and wouldn’t believe that anywhere in the uk had different rules.

I think that was the last time we went north.

I do think some mumsnetters who haven’t travelled out of certain areas don’t realise that pubs aren’t these purely drinking establishments filled with men getting drunk

Pubs have evolved because if they didn’t they would never survive

Our local village pub sells kids crisps and cans, it's not an issue, nobody drinks at the bar, it's daytime so no one is drunk. The kids take their purchases and go. Asfaik it's legal as they serve food. MN is weird about pubs though, like they are a den of vice. The thread where some woman was bringing her kids up above a pub was an exercise in pearl clutching.

As you’ve said it’s a countryside pub and it’s your local, I’m assuming you live in the countryside.

I grew up in the countryside in a very small village and used to spend every Sunday afternoon up at the pub with the ‘old boys’ (very old men) who taught me how to play dominos. I started going up when I was 7 or 8, there were no other kids in the village and no shop, so it was the only place I could buy a chocolate bar! So, it’s not strange to me at all.

I live in a city now and wouldn’t want my DD in the pub on the weekend!

Ah please don’t go in all guns blazing! How hilarious!

I think it’s hilarious! They didn’t try and buy alcohol or deceive anyone.

How many pubs can afford to only serve alcohol nowadays

I think it's just company policy because Spoons are not primarily a drinking pub, there are menus on every table and food is heavily promoted.
Under 18s are not allowed to drink with a meal either even with an adult even though that is not against the law and is allowed in restaurants.

No unaccompanied under 16s are allowed and definitely not getting served at the bar even for a bag of crisps.

If it's true that a pp's 12yr old is welcome in their local Spoons then the staff in that pub should be in big trouble and are seriously breaking the rules.

That’s what I did
i had a work permit and mostly did desserts, coffees, clearing tables etc
no alcohol of course

This thread has reminded me of when we were in a pub for a wake, and when I turned my back for 2 seconds my ds3 climbed up on a bar stool and ordered himself a glass of milk!

They went in for some fruit juice and crisps, they werent dressed up pretending to be 19 and ordering alcohol.

This outrage is so modern and ridiculous.

When I was a kid every family in the village and all their kids would head to the pub. It was the hub of the society. There was 2 pubs, 1 working club, 1 church, 1 kids play park, 3 rows of houses and a post office and that was it. Bar staff would have zero issue serving a kid crisps and (and unassumingly) non alcoholic drink without a parent. They literally sold sweets and snacks because there was no where else for kids to buy them.

When I moved years later the local hardware store was the hang out for kids that sold sweets and snacks, right along side planks, wood glue and screws lol.

I mean what could possibly be the issue with a kid ordering crisps without and adult? I highly doubt they where ordering and necking absinthe shots. Would you's be 'offended' if they got a Pepsi and crisps in a cafe or cinema or a restaurant (which equally also has a bar?) etc...

I mean where do you draw the line on things like Brewers Fayre or Green King? these places literally have soft plays, arcades, put on children's events and are aimed at families with young kids but are 'pubs'.

My daughter has been working behind a bar since she was 16. This is exactly what happens. She is supervised by the bar manager. They work in a small area and he pretty much okays every purchase with a nod.

I agree, it's a flipping Orange drink not a double straight shot of Absolut 100!

I feel sorry for teens they have nowhere to hang out and socialise but are correspondingly told to get off their smart phones! When my Mum was teen, in the sixties, they hung out in coffee shops at night and jazz bars in the sixth form . When I was sixth former pubs were the domain of late teens and not adults in their twenties. Old men had their own pubs but they were boring so no one frequented them.

I get the feeling most posters here have never lived in a small village where everyone knows everyone else.

When I was a young teen my friends and I used to occasionally do a "dessert crawl", which we felt was incredibly adult and sophisticated, and which involved going to a pub and buying/eating puddings from their restaurant menu and then going to the other pub and doing the same. We weren't allowed in the "bar" but going into the restaurant area without any adults with us was fine.

In some areas it’s safer in the local pub than in Mc D’s or the local park!

Love it tho!

This has reminded me back in the 90’s when our older sisters were going ‘ritzy’ or the ‘zone’ me and my friend (we were 13ish) would go to the village pub on a Friday night and buy Coca Cola and crisps from the outside hatch but if we were lucky the server would let us come inside the pub and sit down as long as we didn’t make a sound and we felt so grown up 🤣 and barely spoke a word in case we got thrown out 😂

Yes exactly!

That sounds like it was the ideal young teen thing to do.

I say Friday night - it would have been about 6pm for half an hour 🤣

Haven't RTFT but I just wanted to say it's funny. The image of two 12 years old going to the pub for crisps and J20! Love it.