Noisy children in pub

[retirementrocks]

AIBU to think that it is not ok for parents to allow their children to run around a pub and in and out of the toilets making one hell of a racket whilst they sit and chat to their friends? Just visited our local...expect it to be busy as it is Sunday and it is a popular pub for a family lunch, but we left after one drink because the noise was just too much. It took one of the bar staff to politely twice ask the parents to ask their children to be a bit quieter and not to run around but to no avail. It's a pub not a frigging playground!

We always had 'the chat 'with our DDs before we went out to eat. They were well behaved anyway but they knew what was expected of them, namely to sit at the table chatting, maybe colouring in and the eating nicely.

Yanbu. If your kids are too young to sit for an extended meal then go somewhere with a play area attached or outside. It’s not safe for them to be running where hot food/drinks are being carried and trays of glasses.

Yanbu . The parents saying “it’s a family pub so suck up the bratish behaviour “, well they are part of the problem, they are the parents that think we all love their precious children. No, a pub is an adult environment and children need to behave appropriately.
I don’t expect children to sit quietly, I do expect their parents to entertain them rather than let their children run wild.
My DH is so European in his attitude to children, but even he will get slightly miffed at children being allowed to run around like they are in a playground.

Yanbu. We're all paying so all should be able to enjoy food in a pleasant environment, not a zoo.
The kids running indoors is a safety issue with staff carrying hot plates, drinks in glasses etc. You wouldn't hear the end if it if a loose kid was hurt. I feel sorry for staff trying to work quickly and safely with the rugrats. I've got a kid, we eat out and she ran around outside in the play area not indoors.

YANBU - I have been out to a family friendly pub this afternoon with my parents and 4 year old son.

I knew there would likely be a wait for good due to it being so popular. So, I took colouring things plus my phone with headphones (which in the end wasn't needed). All adults took turns colouring/talking to my son to keep him amused and he sat absolutely fine for almost 2 hours.

Had he been noisy/restless i would have taken him outside between courses - absolutely no way would I have allowed him to run around it shout/scream!

If you want a quiet meal inpeace then dont go to family pubs. All pubs which encourage families, have loads of screaming kids running around.
You wouldnt go swimming and then complain you got wet would you?

Jesus Rudgie. That's party if the problem. People like you clearly don't realise kids don't have to behave as if they're having a ball at softplay all the time. It's down to lazy parenting, simple as.

Definitely not OK.

We often take our DC to the pubs. They are 9, 6 & 4 & DS2 has SEN, and believe me, they have the potential to be very noisy! But we only let them run around in the soft play or garden of a pub. If we are indoors, I take paper & pencil, sticker book & a book to keep them occupied & if they need the toilet, one of us takes them. I'm not claiming they are silent, but they are an acceptable level of noisy. It just takes a little consideration & forward planning.

*part of

I didn't eat in a restaurant until I was in my teens because my DB was that child who would play up and couldn't sit still. So we didn't go in them.

YANBU.

No not ok. Either they get a sitter, realise that their social life needs to change or they teach their children how to behave. Pubs at night are not for children.

All pubs which encourage families, have loads of screaming kids running around

But they shouldn't be running around though, it's dangerous and it's annoying to the people who are eating. Just because it's a 'family friendly' pub, they don't mean the kids can run about like wild animals.

Christ, and wouldn't the poor waiter/ess know all about it if she dropped a hot plate of food on little Hugo's head as he ran under her feet

Family pubs are not “adult environments”. They are for families so as much for kids as adults.
Pubs are noisy. Noisy kids in pubs are fine. Kids running around is not fine. It’s annoying and potentially dangerous.
We regularly eat out with lots of young children. They run riot in the playground before and after the meal but they all understand when they are inside they need to sit at the table. It’s really not that hard is it??

Noisy kids are annoying but not as annoying as drunk rowdy adults

If you wanted to avoid drink rowdy adults you wouldn't go to the pub though

I've been to plenty of pubs where grown ups know how to behave

It’s not a playground

Ah but three local pubs to us actually are playgrounds. Bouncy castle, massive wooden climbing frame, swings, slides etc. One is apparently building a crazy golf course (don’t know where they are fitting that in)

If you are in the conservatory or the terrace of any of those then I think YABU, the kids are running in and out to their parents who watch from there. But if it’s not that kind of set up then noise and running about isn’t on, no.

DS2 used to be uncontrollable in pubs, he's finally calmed down.

When DD was small (only child) she would play with the other children in the kids playground but knew to behave herself in the area where people were dining and drinking. Some of the other parents largely ignored their kids which usually meant they fought or ended up hurt. Then of course it’s the pub’s fault not the parent who left their child to their own devices. These neglectful parents never hand out consequences, and they always blame others.

I like family friendly places but its not ok to allow kids to run riot in and out of toilets or around a seated place. If they can't sit and eat a meal or do colouring for example while waiting then they are not ready to eat out. I expect a bit of noise but not bratty screeching when they could be asked by parents to calm down a little.

I find it hard to care tbh. Just tune them out.

@Rudgie47

"If you want a quiet meal inpeace then dont go to family pubs"

There's always someone who says this on these threads
Then I always ask for suggestions of childfree pubs in London (central or outer all the way to Zone 6).

No one can ever name one. They can name a few places that don't allow children after 5pm but lunch without screaming kids is no longer an option anywhere I've ever been.

I have nothing against children, its the lazy and rubbish parenting that annoys me. I have a right to use any pub I want to.

No way would I have been allowed to scream for hours on end and run into waiters carrying things when I was a kid.