Banned from Starbucks

[Monicachoux]

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

Ah yes, all my carefully crafted arguments are pointless if the room is booked :o - presumably there is nothing to stop the mummies' group doing the same. But from the OP I don't think it is...

What really surprises me about this thread is the underlying dislike of small children.

But then again, this is Britain.

It comes as no surprise to me that British children do not know how to behave in public as they aren't welcome anywhere other than Soft Play until about 16 yo. And similarly adults have no tolerance/understanding of children as they never bloody see them. Ridiculous.

My eyes! My eyes! don't make me look again, it hurts!

MummyBerryJuice. I don't believe this IS about small children and dislike thereof. I believe it is dislike and intolerance of mums of small children and their sense of entitlement, space occupancy and reluctance to keep their small children in any kind of order (babies excepted as they really can't help themselves).

'It comes as no surprise to me that British children do not know how to behave in public as they aren't welcome anywhere other than Soft Play until about 16 yo.'

Actually, it's because so many parents here don't believe in disciplining their children or having consideration for others so allow their small children to run riot in small, enclosed places.

Children must be taught to behave in public by their parents, which means it's actually work to take them out and you can't just drink a coffee and blether to your mates but actually mind your children until they learn to manage themselves.

But because of a pervasive sense of entitlement among so many adults, you get packs of parents invading a place, not folding down pushchairs or policing their children, making it a place most other users don't want to be.

OH FGS

Nothing wrong with 1 or 2 mothers - or a family going to a cafe and having drink.

A GROUP of mothers with babies (aka a Mums and Toddlers group) is an entirely different matter.

If I want to take my DS3 to a mum's and toddlers group - I take him to one.

If I want to treat him to a hot chocolate and cake - I'll take him to a cafe.

If I want a a nice peaceful cup of coffee - I go to the cafe and not the toddlers group.

Ive just been over to the dark side!....
" Originally Posted by Nicola I(37)

'Is it an actual Starbucks, or a coffee shop which serves Starbucks? We have a local hotel cafe which serves Starbucks but isnt an actual Starbucks.

I am goign to be lynched I'm quite sure, but I can see the cafes POV . You said there can be up to 8 mums, so I am guessing there will be a min of 8 babies, plus prams/carseat & bags. For business men staying at the hotel using the cafe is must seem like a creche. If they have recieved complaints from people who use the hotel alot, its going to be in their interest to preserve the quiet relaxed atmosphere those clients prefer.

I dont think the cafe would have a problem with 2/3 mums meeting up on a regular basis, but at 8 + babies, they must feel that that you are over taking the place.

I meet a group of mums at a Starbucks in town & have done for many years. Its a busy bustling cafe and people accept noise much better.

Why not take it in turns to host coffee mornings at each others houses?'

sorry but your comment stinks! did you ever watch the film LIFE with eddie murphy in it? ok so it;s about black people but it's still the same.

'we've been travelling all day, all we want is a few cups of coffee and a couple of slices of pie.'
'no these are white only pies'

'i'm gonna have me some white pie!! "

HUH?

Ooh, I've never been on NM before, it looks great! Any theories as to where OP has gone? Leading her convoy of SUV prams to local Costa?

P.S. I really like the moving smileys! AIBU?

I sometimes meet a friend in starbucks, alway at a time when we know it won't be busy. Both of us have our DC with us.

My DS is 6 months and friends DS is 2. Yesterday we met and our children were being very well behaved - for a change! We made sure we sat away from anyone who was working/on the phone or with a friend.

Anyway, the woman next to us came in with 3 othe mums and 5 children. All these children Had babychinos- (when did this trend start?) and they were being hidious! Screaming, throwing their baby bloody chinos every where and guess what.... The mums just sat there, chatting and letting them get on with it. If that had been my child I would of left!! I'd much rather go to a friends for coffee then have to deal with someone elses screaming child!!

Aaaagh!

It's not a dislike of small children. It is about being considerate to others. I would imagine they would have asked any other group meeting there regularly to do the sam. Especially if they arrive with 4 tonnes of luggage (I've been a mother :o)

"MummyBerryJuice. I don't believe this IS about small children and dislike thereof. I believe it is dislike and intolerance of mums of small children and their sense of entitlement, space occupancy and reluctance to keep their small children in any kind of order (babies excepted as they really can't help themselves)."

Yes, thumbwitch. You shat right in the pan there, me dear.

Someone needs to bring Nicola to the dark side.

upsylazy: "Ooh, I've never been on NM before, it looks great!"

It's for your own good, trust me.

I want us to be the dark side. The dark side gets better clothes.

"Yes, thumbwitch. You shat right in the pan there, me dear."
And that is something else which will get you banned from Starbucks!

HMMHGBFDHNNNNN! @ Littlemiss. You are suffocating me!

"Yes, thumbwitch. You shat right in the pan there, me dear."

{grin] - love it.

but you're right = it's about consideration for others and realised that you and your precious children (and all the baggage that you take around with you if you're that way inclined) is a PITA for other people and other people might not actually want to have to sit through your mothers and toddlers group - if they did I'm sure they'd tootled off to the nearest hall holding such a group and have coffee there.........

SGM - I agree with your first line. I lived in Zimbabwe - very child friendly, children very welcome even in the poshest of restaurants. But you just didn't see gaggles of mothers sitting in IB's (my favourite haunt ) with babies using it as a toddler group.

don't worry, I wiped first!

Saggy - surely missing the pan would get me banned, not hitting it? Or do they have "shit on the floor, not in the pan" policy that I have somehow missed?

Oh gawd, don't get me started on babychinos!

I was at a coffee shop last weekend with DP and DS. We were sitting at a table near the far end of the room and a mum came in with 4 little girls aged about 3 to 8 and promptly deposited them at the one, not particularly accessible table beyond ours with their babychinos while she went and sat at the opposite end of the coffee shop with her newspaper. The girls spent the next half hour getting up and down every 30 seconds and squeezing between my chair and the wall rather than going round the clear route which was further to walk, knocking into me and DS, at one point making me spill my tea, to get more sugar, more stirrers, more napkins, more spoons. In the finish I moved my chair back to stop them doing it whereupon they still tried to squeeze through. Mother entirely oblivious and having a lovely quiet time.

I entirely blame the babychinos!

LNP - do you think we could have a MN campaign to save the "White Pie One"?

*Laquitar" to be fair, many of the business meetings I've been in recently would have been significantly enlivened by the presence of several small children. Deathly dull.

MMMNNNFFFYHJGDFGHHHNNNN..CANTBREATHE..GNNNHHHMM..GERROF...