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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Banned from Starbucks

360 replies

Monicachoux · 15/03/2011 21:44

I am part of a group of new mothers who used to meet a local Birmingham Starbucks for a coffee and chat once a week. The Starbucks is located within a hotel, and both businesses share a lounge area big enough for us, our babies and baby equipment.
We have (after about 6 meets) been told we are not welcome to meet there anymore as the "venue has been booked for corporate seminars and events on the days you meet, and this will be taking place for the next few months".
Starbucks boasts a sign stating "Sit and relax in our lounge area at the back", yet, we are no longer welcome to relax here with our babies anymore... Numbers for our group range from about 4 or 5 mums with their babies up to about 7 or 8 (so we're hardly an army) and each of us consumed drinks and snacks from the coffee shop and hotel when we went there... Are we being unreasonable by expecting to be treated like any other Starbucks customer in spite of (the horror!) having babies? I have to say that I for one was quite shocked when they (very nicely) informed us we couldn't meet there anymore- this is DEFINITELY NOT a baby-friendly establishment

OP posts:
manticlimactic · 16/03/2011 22:45

Phew! Just read through the whole thread.

I thought babychinos were cream trousers until I googled. Grin

MadamDeathstare · 17/03/2011 04:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CheerfulYank · 17/03/2011 04:31

There are Americans here?! Wink

Morloth · 17/03/2011 04:46

Bloody yanks, travelling the world, peddling their sugary beverages.

There are hardly any Starbucks in Sydney now, sob. I know it isn't really coffee, but it is yummy.

GotArt · 17/03/2011 05:10

My MamaGroup, (there's nine of us all together, all with 2 year olds and 6 with under ones) and we would never dream of descending on a Starbucks or any coffee shop or restaurant together like that on a regular bases. We've been to my husbands restaurant, but got the private room and to a family restaurant that is more than ready for such an assault. We certainly don't bring our big ass strollers with us either but that is probably because we all drive. DD and I however go to coffee shops all the time and lunch at the bar of DH's restaurant and other fine dining places but she is socialized to behave appropriately, like some have already said here. I never go just to leave her stuck in her chair or bury her head in her crayons and stickers. I engage her. I get good comments all the time from other parents too about how well behaved she is. Its unfair to LO's to go and have to endure long hour(s) at a Starbucks while mommy banters to other mommies. The OP sounds like you've been informed that your large group won't be accommodated during the time you come as the space has been rented. That's entirely fair for a hotel to do so. As you have noticeably become regular at that time, it was fair for the hotel/Starbucks to inform you, they wouldn't be able to accommodate you all. Trust me, so much easier to have those big meet ups at home anyhow... then you don't have to worry as much about your LO's and can leave strollers outside.

GotArt · 17/03/2011 05:12

Morloth Are they closing down... I wish. There's a place in Vancouver with one on each corner of a major intersection downtown. It baffles me. All differently owned too.

Morloth · 17/03/2011 05:32

I don't think they were quite prepared for how seriously Aussies take coffee.

We didn't need Starbucks with the huge italian community already providing excellent coffee.

I do like a frappucino on a hot day though and get pregnancy cravings for their mochas, not coffee exactly but that particular Starbucks flavour.

There is another chain here called Gloria Jeans which does OK, but I ordered a coffee there the other day and they wanted $5!

GotArt · 17/03/2011 05:39

Yes... the Italians know how to make a good coffee. We have loads of independent ones to with fairtrade and organic coffees and such, but Starbucks is like a rash around here.

Morloth · 17/03/2011 06:14

No idea then, I think it was a combination of the good coffee culture already and the ridiculous prices for frivilous coffees, there is one out near where my mum/inlaws live so I alway stop in there when we visit.

I sit in my car and order a grande decaf mocha frappucinno with cream, and then feel a bit silly. But it is good, oh so good.

ChristinedePizan · 17/03/2011 08:32

I had no idea until I got into a heated discussion with a friend about the Aussies' obsession with coffee :o

bupcakesandcunting · 17/03/2011 09:17

Ooh we have a Gloria Jean's here too. I quite like them. I don't feel like such a prick sitting in there as I do in Starbucks.

Morloth · 17/03/2011 09:20

My fav is Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, they do a black forest frapp which is just so yum.

Only seen them in the States and Singapore though which is a bit far to go for an iced beverage.

tryingtoleave · 17/03/2011 09:35

Never mind being a class traitor, morloth - that comment is positively unaustralian.

My dcs love babycinnos - they insist on me making them whenever they see me moving towards the coffee machine. It's turning me into a closet coffee drinker

expatinscotland · 17/03/2011 09:39

Living in the wilds of the Western Scottish Highlands has its advantages Wink: my children have zero idea what a babychino is; nor did I until now.

Morloth · 17/03/2011 09:43

Which one?

I have been away and corrupted by different ways!

SerialComma · 17/03/2011 09:44

I have adored this thread. Depressed to learn about the new phenomenon of mother & baby groups taking place in naff coffee shops. You don't get that up here, thank god. Our coffee shops are packed with students who have somehow bought the idea that it is cool and poet-in-a-garret-like to sit with your laptop in Costa, working on an essay.

Liv77 · 17/03/2011 10:00

I agree with the students comment serial I blame JK Rowling Grin

jennypenney · 17/03/2011 10:06

A group of 7 or 8 mums with babies? In Starbucks, in a hotel lobby?

All my sympathies are with the hotel receptionists then. I bet they're all doped up to the eyeballs on Migraleve.

A1980 · 17/03/2011 10:22

This part of the OP just caught my eye:

"The Starbucks is located within a hotel, and both businesses share a lounge area big enough for us, our babies and baby equipment."

So in other words there's no space left for anyone. else. It's a hotel FGS. If I was paying for a room in a hotel and I couldn't use the Starbucks or the lounge becasue of a herd of mothers and screaming babies, who aren't guests of the hotel and are only buying a coffee each, I would be furious. Perhaps there were complaints from guests.

Also this comment from the OP: "Starbucks boasts a sign stating "Sit and relax in our lounge area at the back", yet, we are no longer welcome to relax here with our babies anymore..."

Again I think that sign is most likely meant for hotel guests.

PaperView · 17/03/2011 11:04

Just buy a milk frother from Sainsbo - warm milk frothed with a little bit of grated choc on top = a treat for my boys :)

SerialComma · 17/03/2011 11:10

yy re JK Rowling. And I bet she'd whip up a good Expeliamus spell if a horde of noisy smelly mums & babies came into her caff and interfered with the Potter production line.

thumbwitch · 17/03/2011 11:32

Australians have an obsession with coffee? Do they? Is that just the city-dwellers then, cos I haven't really noticed it out here in the "country" Grin
I'm sure there is a Starbucks in at least one of the big shopping centres around but I can't say I've noticed particularly. We do have a rash of Subways though.

IMissSleep · 17/03/2011 12:13

Anyone fancy meeting at the local Starbucks for coffee...

Grin
empirestateofmind · 17/03/2011 13:12

Thanks for the tip re the Singapore frappes Morloth, I shall do some research at the weekend.

I am afraid I agree with everyone else OP (and where are you BTW?) that you have probably been inconsiderate of other customers and the cafe staff. I wouldn't want to clamber over buggies or listen to babies crying when I am enjoying a quiet drink and sit down, so I would not frequent a cafe if I saw such a big group in it.

One or two buggies- fine as you can walk round some different tables usually to get to your seat. More than that and it is an obstacle course and a hazard in the event of a fire or if anyone is carrying hot drinks.

LDNmummy · 17/03/2011 14:10

When I was a little girl my father regularly took myself and my siblings to grown up venues and restaurants, but it was because he taught us etiquette and manners.

By 9 I knew how to place a napkin on my lap at restaurants, excuse myself to go to the bathroom and how to use cutlery including chop sticks where necessary. He was very into it and it has served me well. Screaming and shouting or running around was NOT tolerated and please and thank you was an absolute must in my vocabulary.

Children are not generally taught etiquette or social manners anymore as parents don't tend to discipline or teach these things as children are somehow seen as incapable of learning these things.