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AIBU?

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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:
RunAwayWife · 16/03/2011 09:36

I love starbucks and the one I go to with me mum is always full of mummies and babies.

I think if it is book for other things then that is not unreasonable

RunAwayWife · 16/03/2011 09:40

I do have to admit though I have had to ask some of them to move their prams so as to get mums wheel chair past as they seem to make a sort of wagon train round their camp with the bloody things often blocking of tables they are not using.

I have no problem with the amount of mummies and babies I just hate their bloody prams Grin

mysticpizza · 16/03/2011 09:46

this is DEFINITELY NOT a baby-friendly establishment

I think you've said it yourself right there. The setting is predominantly a business environment and the chances are your group is putting off the target market the proprietors are aiming for.

YABU.

MilaMae · 16/03/2011 09:51

God I wish our local would do the same.

It's always full of mums(who most of the time are nursing 1 cup of coffee for an entire morning). They park their buggies(never fold them, or leave them elsewhere). They descend in packs,make a lot of noise and let their toddlers run riot. They also think the sofas actually belong to them.

Starbucks isn't a Mother and Toddler group. You don't own it. When I spend over £2 for a coffee and want to meet up with friends for a precious kid free hour I have no wish to continuously share it with NCT groups who think the world revolves around their pfbs and that taking over a coffee shop is ok.

Starbucks(who I suspect loose a lot of money due to this recent trend)are perfectly within their rights and I wish others would do the same.

Sorry YABU

gorionine · 16/03/2011 09:58

Yes mums should never go anywhere but to toddler groups Hmm why that? why is your well being more important that theirs?

expatinscotland · 16/03/2011 09:59

Shops around secondary schools ban groups of more than 3 or they're taken over by packs of teens who drive off other customers at certain times of the day.

Hopefully, more cafes will adopt this.

I can't think of anyone who wants to have coffee around a mums & babies/toddlers group unless they're a member of it.

Maryz · 16/03/2011 10:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MilaMae · 16/03/2011 10:05

I didn't say that gorion.

A couple of mums I have no problem with but packs I do.

I wouldn't dream of holding a PTA meeting in Starbucks every single bloody morning.

Mums have homes or other venues they can book like the rest of us.

In my day there weren't half as many coffee shops ,we coped.

Also it's my well being that puts money in the Starbucks coffers and like many others I avoid it like the plague,it's totally unbearable when swarming with large M&T groups.

gorionine · 16/03/2011 10:09

Maryz, I was answering to MilMae's post, sorry I had not made it clearBlushand her

" Starbucks isn't a Mother and Toddler group. You don't own it. When I spend over £2 for a coffee and want to meet up with friends for a precious kid free hour I have no wish to continuously share it with NCT groups who think the world revolves around their pfbs and that taking over a coffee shop is ok."

as long as they do not come and actually sit at your table and insist on you talking/listening to their stolries about their children and are also themselves paying the extotionate £2+ cofee they are not more entitles than anyone but they are AS entitled to anyone.

gorionine · 16/03/2011 10:10

typos!Blush

Jajas · 16/03/2011 10:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

belgo · 16/03/2011 10:14

YABU. I'm sure there are plenty of cafes in Birmingham, why not alternate where you meet? 7-8 mothers with prams, that is a lot, and probably does put off other clientèle.

I regularly attend baby groups and we either meet at each other's houses, or occasionally a cafe but never the same place time and again.

MilaMae · 16/03/2011 10:16

Also I think Starbucks has lost it's way.

It's turned into a milky coffee play zone. They're loosing out to the independent coffee shops where the focus is more on quality coffee and a quiet place to read the paper,have lunch. Since Starbucks hit the scene others have come in board nicking the previous concept and doing it better.

Starbucks are having a complete overhaul and everything will be changing from the coffee to crockery and furniture. I hope they change the layout too so the pack nursing a coffee thing doesn't happen.

bupcakesandcunting · 16/03/2011 10:17

Unfortunately for parents, businesses don't HAVE to be child friendly. Unfortunately for parents, businesses that are not soft play areas/creches do not have to function as soft play areas/creches.

I can see your frustration; you had a nice little set-up at Starbuck's and someone's come along and pissed on your chips. Just move on to somewhere that doesn't mind you being there. It's not really a newsworthy issue IMO.

ivykaty44 · 16/03/2011 10:18

Book a conference room and you can pay and do what you like for an hour - otherwise if you don't want to book and pay then go elsewhere

ivykaty44 · 16/03/2011 10:21

Oh and starbuck this morning in leamington was empty (not one single customer or baby) - get a train its not far and you will have their crap coffee and dirty space all to yourself, as other customers have gone to drink else where as they where feed up of the noise from all the babies

RoundOrangeHead · 16/03/2011 10:24

my dd once did a wee in a plant pot in Starbucks, now that's NOT child friendly, is it?

bemybebe · 16/03/2011 10:27

gorionine nobody is entitled to anything. businesses (incl hotels and coffeeshops) are happy where ever this £2+ is coming from, but if they are loosing much more in lost earnings because of antisocial groups of customers, they can ask those to move, what is wrong with this?

when i am on business having a meeting i do not want to shout over screaming toddlers. do you thnk the proprietors would not understand that and make necessary adjustments?

KnittedBreast · 16/03/2011 10:30

i know plenty of nerds who buy one coffee and use free wifi and stay all day! in groups too...if shitbucks were not activly encouraging such behaviour they wouldnt give the option too stay all day or offer free wifi. they cant suddenly start being chhosy about their customers once an idea or feature becomes too popular

Maryz · 16/03/2011 10:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TandB · 16/03/2011 10:34

What Bupcakes said.

montmartre · 16/03/2011 10:43

It is actually difficult sometimes for 6 or 7 mums to meet at each other's houses... not sure what size home you all have, but I have a 2 bed, no hall terrace- there's nowhere to put 6 buggies, even if it's fine and they could go in the garden... treking 6 buggies through my home and out into the garden is far from ideal, in wet weather that's an impossibility. If people live in flats (and there are a hell of a lot of flat-dwellers in Birmingham) then what the heck are people to do? hang the buggies in ropes off the balcony? Confused
Let alone if the lifts are working to get baby, toddler, buggy, and baggage up 8,9, 10 stories anyway...

ChristinedePizan · 16/03/2011 10:46

Err ... meet in smaller groups? As you've said, prams take up a lot of room and drag mud into places. It's a bit rich that you don't want to mess up your house but that you're happy to trash a coffee shop :o

belgo · 16/03/2011 10:47

montmartre - the cafes have the same problem, parents and their buggies taking up a disproportionate amount of space and make a disproportionate amount of noise.

If you can't get seven/eight prams into your house, then why expect a cafe to cater for 7/8 prmas?

Carrying babies in slings can help, or having small closable pushchairs.

MilaMae · 16/03/2011 10:56

We've all been there and managed.

Taking over a Starbucks is not a right of parenthood.

There are hoards of baby groups these days for pack meetings,you don't need to meet up in a coffee shop all together all the time. You could meet 1 or 2 mums in your flats then save big meets for parks, children's centres,baby groups etc. Most toddlers hate hanging around cafes anyway.

I don't get this current pack need and this permanent attachment to masseeeeeve , space age buggies complete with humungous nappy bag contraptions permanently attached to the back. You only need a nappy ,wipes,boob or bottle.

Mums these days just can't seem to function without the starship enterprise in coffee shops which is half the problem. When you more than 2 of those in a confined space it's hell(and a fire hazard) for everybody else.

God I've officially turned into my mother Blush

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