Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To feel like these families spoilt the pub?

95 replies

Primadonnagirl · 19/04/2014 15:32

Our local is a proper old fashioned pub. It is family friendly but tends to attract the more real ale crowd.There are two main rooms, one which tends to be where people eat in, and two smaller ones that tend to be used for groups. We went out with four friends for an early evening drink.Great convivial Bank Holiday weekend atmosphere. We were sat in the main room. After only half an hour a huge party came in..almost everyone was a couple with a baby and pram/ pushchair. The atmosphere changed instantly to that of a play group.People were being jostled when they were trying to get prams in etc. Then all the babies were introduced to each other and passed around the group amid much loud baby talk.the noise just completely drowned everything else.I got up to see if there was a table somewhere else ..and found that the rest of the group were in the other room..It was so uncomfortable we left. I don't have a problem with families in pubs but is it really appropriate to take a large group of babies into one on a Saturday evening, completely dominate the space and have no regard for what is essentially an adult environment??Just interested in your views esp if you have littles ones..

OP posts:
LullabyUnderStars · 19/04/2014 16:20

However, it is families rather than child free singletons who are keeping most pubs going these days, so the fact that you even have a pub to drink in at all is largely because of the parent pound.

Is it? Where have you got that fact from?

I think "singleton" is quite a sneery phrase to use.

ElseaStars · 19/04/2014 16:27

YANBU OP. I would have left as well.

Original poster
Primadonnagirl · 19/04/2014 16:27

It was around 5pm.They may well have been going to eat ,don't know as we left . I just found it odd .

OP posts:
Thetallesttower · 19/04/2014 16:30

At 5 pm on a Bank Holiday, this is perfectly reasonable!

If you had said late night in an adults type environment, completely different, but surely 5pm is a daytime drink and families are usually very welcome in pubs around this time.

Mintyy · 19/04/2014 16:30

I wish there could be some truly child-free places! It would be so nice.

grovel · 19/04/2014 16:32

YANBU but to be honest I prefer children to real ale bores.

ElseaStars · 19/04/2014 16:34

Mintyy that would be amazing. Me and OH always have date night plagued by other people's kids and the parents always seem to think everyone should love their kids (even if they're screaming their little heads off)

shrunkenhead · 19/04/2014 16:35

Why they can't leave the prams/buggies/child mobiles outside is beyond me! Yes, I have a child and if she doesn't behave accordingly in a pub/restaurant we leave, she knows to sit down and speak quietly. I think it's the whole have it all mentality of some parents, they want to still dine out/have a few pints but won't accept young children bore v easily in such environments

ChazzerChaser · 19/04/2014 16:36

I hate it when groups of beery lads or people shouting at football matches come in. But it's a pub. You expect other people to come in, including in groups. Families are no different. YABU

Bowlersarm · 19/04/2014 16:36

Yanbu

There should be places where adults can have a meal or a drink in peace. Some parents are considerate of others in keeping the din of their small children down, but many are not. The pub used to be the place DH and I headed without our small DC so we could escape the world of children once in a while.

ChazzerChaser · 19/04/2014 16:37

And plenty of pubs don't let children in. So you can go to one of those. There aren't pubs that ban shouty groups on men so I don't have that luxury.

yegodsandlittlefishes · 19/04/2014 16:37

I think it's odd and if it were one of our locals, I'd have asked the management if they could ask the groups to book ahead and advertise it as a young families with babies time so we knew to avoid them on those evenings (and be able to stay longer and enjoy the pub another time).

SpeckleDust · 19/04/2014 16:40

Do people really struggle to find child-free places to go out to? If DH and I have a very rare child-free night out together we would go out for food to any number of restaurants that we know we wouldn't take our DCs to as they wouldn't be child-friendly/appropriate. And go after 8pm.

Objection · 19/04/2014 16:41

YADNBU but you'll find that many people with children think that the world revolves around them because the managed pop out a kid and therefore have no regard for other people.
Yes, yes well done you have a child and yes, yes that doesn't mean you can't have fun but ffs don't let your burdened state affect everyone else.

Find it hard to believe that babies in a pub at night on a Saturday I'd being defended.

MrsCakesPremonition · 19/04/2014 16:41

I think that any large group of parents and babies need to think carefully about suitable venues for gathering. Mostly about how spacious the venue is: will there be room for x buggies without blocking access; if you want to sit together are there plenty of tables (with room for buggies) or are you going to come in a rearrange all the pairs' tables into a sort of giant communal table; are there baby changing facilities; can you leave the buggy behind and just take the car seat? or use a high chair instead of a full travel system? now the weather is gradually improving, would it be more appropriate to spread out in the garden?

My NCT group used to regularly go for a pub lunch when the children were tiny. The pub we went to was fine, not the nicest around but OK but it did have oodles of space and was usually semi-empty on a weekday lunchtime.

I don't think that anyone was in the wrong. The OP's pub sounds rather nice but quite small, so perhaps it wasn't the best choice for a large group of parents, children and vehicles.

ginorwine · 19/04/2014 16:42

What I find hard is parents who let their small ones wander from table and the child talks to me and dh if we are on night out / tea out and the parents get on with their meal leaving me with their child which I do not fee l able to ignore if I've made eye contact and they have latched on to an available looking adult! They have their meal and I get to almost babysit. I have said go back to mummy and daddy to no avail on more than one occasion andci don't feel I can actually take an unknown child by hand and lead said child back to table.

ElseaStars · 19/04/2014 16:42

I agree objection.

Sparklingbrook · 19/04/2014 16:44

YANBU, we would have got up and left too.

Mintyy · 19/04/2014 16:44

SpeckleDust - in my ideal world, I'd be able to go for childfree meals out in the day and early evening too. Am selfish like that Grin.

ilovesooty · 19/04/2014 16:46

I think I'd get my dining companion to go over to the table and ask the parents to retrieve their child - and keep them there.

Floggingmolly · 19/04/2014 16:48

I'd have been pissed off too, you don't expect a soft play atmosphere when you go for a drink in a pub in the evening.

tethersend · 19/04/2014 16:50

Unless you go to the amazing pub I went to, FloggingMolly Wink

shrunkenhead · 19/04/2014 16:52

Why don't they go to Pizza Express??

shrunkenhead · 19/04/2014 16:54

The group of parents with kids I mean

shrunkenhead · 19/04/2014 16:55

You expect that sort of nonsense there.