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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Children in pubs

122 replies

Bleakhouse1879 · 04/08/2015 00:36

Is it unreasonable to take young children in to pubs?

This evening whilst I was enjoying a birthday pint, there were two ladies with their children in the pub, the children ran round the pub, climbed on the furniture and screamed and shouted. This continued for nearly an hour. Being a rather polite young man I didn't want to cause a scene so I left the pub.

I would like to know if there is a form of etiquette when approaching the parents to ask them to keep their children under control.
I understand children can get a bit mardy and it may be difficult for a stressed parent to bring under control, that's why I want advice from you my wonderful Mothers on here. Am I being unreasonable?

OP posts:
caroldecker · 04/08/2015 00:40

After about 7pm, unless a foodie pubs, children under 14 should be gone.

GarminGirl · 04/08/2015 00:44

Def not normal.... Or at least shouldn't be! Next time maybe ask the staff to sort it?

Lj8893 · 04/08/2015 00:46

I thought it was illegal for under 18s to be in pubs after 9pm? Or have I just made that up?

elephantoverthehill · 04/08/2015 00:49

I thought it was 9.00 also.

DoJo · 04/08/2015 00:51

Is it unreasonable to take young children in to pubs?

No, but it is unreasonable to allow your children to behave in the way you describe almost anywhere that isn't specifically designated as a child-oriented business (i.e soft play or similar). It isn't the presences of small children in the pub that's the problem so much as the failure to parent them effectively, but unfortunately if the parents are oblivious to the impact that their children's behaviour is having on others, then it's unlikely that anything short of being asked to leave by the management will work.
Most pubs encourage parents to take their children home at a certain point and will grant a little lee-way to those with quiet, well-behaved children and be more stringent with those who are unable or unwilling to keep their kids quiet.

ladymariner · 04/08/2015 00:51

Definitely not unreasonable.....I absolutely hate it when I'm out enjoying a drink or a meal on a night and kids are running amok, totally unnecessary! When ds was small and we took him out, we always took a bags with a few toys, books, dot to dot books, etc to keep him amused and stop him getting bored.....hardly rocket science!

TakeMeUpTheNorthMountain · 04/08/2015 00:51

It's shouldn't be up to you to approach parents. Tell the staff and get them to have a word. That's what I do. I'm not getting punched by a tipsy parent in the pub for what they would percive as a slight on their parenting skills.

Backtobedlam · 04/08/2015 00:53

Whatever time of day or night, if children are in a pub/resturant they (or their parents) should be considerate of others in there. It's not always easy with children, but as a parent if they won't calm down, they should be taken out. Besides being annoying it's dangerous as they could run past hot food, break glasses or similar.

HeartsTrumpDiamonds · 04/08/2015 00:59

Happy birthday.

Ask the pub staff to intervene. Easier all round.

FithColumnist · 04/08/2015 01:50

OP: drink a pub where children are definitely not allowed. My local won't allow in anyone under 16, no exceptions. This is not a small consideration in my drinking there.

CorporationPop · 04/08/2015 03:14

The way I see it, pubs are adult drinking establishments, not playgrounds for kids. I cant understand it, either.

Ilovecrapcrafts · 04/08/2015 03:34

It depends on the licence but iME most pubs only do have a licence for children until 9pm.

It's not about the children though is it? It's about the behaviour of these individual children which sounds awful. The mother sounds totally ineffectual.

PunkrockerGirl · 04/08/2015 06:02

I'm with you on this one OP.
But this is MN and you'll probably be told that the kids all had sn and what you should have done is bought them all a drink and offered to take them home and babysit them for a few hours to give the mums a break Confused

It should be management that intervenes here. There's nothing more annoying than other people's children running round a pub/restaurant while the dp either ignore them or look fondly on while their offspring spoil everyone else's enjoyment.

Spartans · 04/08/2015 06:08

I agree with pps. The problem isn't that the kids were in the pub.

The problem is that their parents were being responsible. Yes children get a bit over excited, but at that point the parents should have taken them home.

EatDessertFirst · 04/08/2015 07:12

I work in a pub and I don't think kids should be allowed in them at all. It is a minority of parents that allow their children to run riot, but keeping every family out would solve the problem. I've seen staff hospitalised after tripping over kids while carrying plates of food.

fourtothedozen · 04/08/2015 07:22

I wouldn't take my kids to a pub. They are primarily drinking establishments, and not suitable for children.

Yes many of them serve food, but also there will be groups of inebriated people there to get pissed ( and they are within their rights- it is a pub after all).

Pardonwhat · 04/08/2015 07:25

Yes it is reasonable to take children into pubs.
No it is not reasonable to allow your children to be pests.

Altinkum · 04/08/2015 07:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Altinkum · 04/08/2015 07:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

milliemanzi · 04/08/2015 07:35

"Children shouldn't be allowed in pubs"?!?! Whaaaaaat? There have always been pubs that cater for families and pubs that cater purely for adults, i spent half my childhood in pub gardens and wouldn't have it any other way.

In this situation if the children were being really annoying then you could've dealt with it by asking the staff to intervene.

As a side note if you want pubs to continue existing I think they have to cater for families to survive, most places make most of their profit on food!

namelessposter · 04/08/2015 07:42

Children in pubs should be
A: not there past 7pm and
B: (weather permitting) stationed in the beer garden or
C: (weather not permitting) on a corner table, pinioned into corner seats, given colouring books/a tablet and not allowed to raise their voices or leave the table unless to go to the loo.

These are my rules Grin

FurtherSupport · 04/08/2015 07:45

" i spent half my childhood in pub gardens and wouldn't have it any other way."

That's because children weren't actually allowed in the pub in those days millimazi. The law changed in 1995. Before that , some pubs had family rooms well away from the bar but in most children were only allowed in the garden.

Now, pubs have to allow them because as PP said most of the money is made on food sold to families. They absolutely should be behaving though.

fourtothedozen · 04/08/2015 07:50

pubs aren't primarily drinking establishments either now

of course there are still primary used for drinking only

???????

milliemanzi · 04/08/2015 07:51

Ah that's interesting furthersupport I didn't know that!

BeautifulBatman · 04/08/2015 07:55

My old local had a sign up - 'no under 18s in the bar area, no under 14s unsupervised in the dining area, screaming babies will not be tolerated.' I loved that pub. They did not have a child's menu, nor a play area. It was not a family pub in any way and they meant it. Dogs were very welcome though.