Children in Pubs

[MaryJenson]

On a Friday evening, hordes of them in the bar.

Drives me mental!

I can see both sides. I hate it when on the very rare occasion I get out for a meal or a drink I get placed next to kids running round screaming or crying. After a certain time I wouldn't take kids to a bar or restaurant as I don't think it's fair on others and I say that as a mum of four kids, three under 5 and one, possibly two with SEN.

Meh, as long as I’m not the one who has to look after the child, I don’t care who else is in the pub. It’s mostly other adults who get on my wick on the rare occasions I go out.

A trendy city centre bar, yes I think it’s not a particularly child friendly environment. A pub restaurant relying heavily on families coming out for a meal together - you’re going to have to expect kids there imho.

YANBU I think it's awful to drag kids to the pub anyway. It's not exactly fun for them, it's just an excuse for the parents to have a social. Going out for food is one thing but drinks in the pub on a Friday evening is another.

And yes I'm a parent. Never taken DS to the pub apart from chains like Hungry Horse for a meal.

What age do you propose children are allowed in pubs . I occasionally go to pub with my friend my Ds plays chess there with his friend. Is he also a problem?

That said there is a pub opposite for those who don’t want children there.

When I was a child we stayed in the car with a bottle of pop and a straw and a packet of crisps. I prefer my Ds with me.

'Kids on gaming machines' - do you mean i-pads? I cant say it bothers me much. I just try and sit as far away as I can. They will be in bed soon!

Yabu. If the pub have decided it makes most business sense to allow kids, that's their call not yours. Take your custom somewhere more suited to your preferences and if there isn't anywhere, well, it's still up to the pub what clientele they pitch for.

They should, of course, be behaving, but then that is also true of adult patrons.

Hate seeing children in pubs.

I was so judge once watching these 2 husbands take an oh so hilarious picture of their wives breastfeeding their newborn babies while they clinked together their 4th double vodka and orange juices. It’s pathetic.

My kids love the pub, i take a small bag with little things to entertain them if they get bored with conversation but they usually sit nicely, join in with the chat and eat and enjoy themselves. I have spoke to them about appropriate behaviour in pubs and restaurants and as a result can take them anywhere and they are good company.

Used to run a pub with my ex. To apply for a licence (when it was changed around 12 years ago) we had to satisfy the local council that we were “fit and proper” and that included adherence to the Protection of Children Act (I think that was the name) we had to state that children wouldn’t be allowed after a certain time (didn’t serve food after 7 so said 8), they aren’t technically allowed at the bar and aren’t allowed on fruit machines. I have seen all these happening in other places though. One place we go markets itself as ‘family friendly’ and under 12s have to sit in a separate section and to be fair, it is enforced. At other places not so much.

I hate it too. Our local is no under 16s after 7pm. Perfect.

Yanbu. Sometimes it's more relaxing to have a quieter child free atmosphere for adults. There's nothing wrong with wanting
Some adult only spaces for drinking/socialising with other adults.

I don't have children and sometimes can't really cope with a lot of children running around and screaming in places like bars or pubs, obviously that's only a few of them that do that though.

There are family pubs with play equipment and other entertainment for children that woukd suit families better. Otherwise I expect children would be bored in a regular pub.

There was a BBC News article the other day about how children being allowed to play on gambling machines in pubs was rife.

I have no particular objection to quiet, well-behaved babies and children but find that, especially on a Sunday and especially in North and North West London, they descend en masse in groups of about twenty and take over the entire place with enormous prams (which are largely unnecessary because at no point is the baby put down and allowed to rest).

In my day as kids we sat outside in the back of the car in the dark with a bottle of coke plus straw and a packet of Smiths' crisps with the little blue packet of salt. Who says the past was not a foreign country?

It's a pain to have an nice evening made painful by having to tolerate kids who are not being sufficiently well-parented. But I do agree with those posters who have suggested that pubs have to be more broad-church these days if they want to survive. It is what it is, as they say.

Just don't leave them behind (Mr Cameron please note).

Luckily the pubs I went to, barred chdren after 8pm.

When I was able to ditch mine. I didn't want to have to curtail my conversations to be child friendly. Especially if I wanted to do a bit of flirting.

But I agree that more pubs are havi g to change because otherwise they wouldn't survive.

Eight of the pubs that I used to drink in, are now gone.

Our local is nearly split in 2. Those with kids to the right. Those without kids to the left. Works really well 🍷

"and take over the entire place with enormous prams (which are largely unnecessary because at no point is the baby put down and allowed to rest)."

They're great walking aids when you are tipsy.

I don't really understand the need to be drinking alcohol when you've got kids with you, and I'm massively in favour of child free pubs.

There are plenty of family friendly places without having everywhere else taken over by children too.

The thing is, despite all these people claiming they love to go to a pub without kids and spend their money the fact is people just don’t. The traditional ‘old man’ local just isn’t viable today and are closing down at a huge rate. Pubs have to evolve or die and the evolution at many locals is to become family friendly.

If you want adult only bars go into town and visit one. If you wanted an adult only local you needed to put your hand in your pocket and keep it open. You didn’t, the families did. You don’t get to whinge now.

Pretty much. It is kind of amazing though, the way people feel entitled to an opinion on other people's business models when the business involves catering to the parents of young children. As though your likes and dislikes and what you did when you had toddlers are more important than others earning a living.

A pub is an an adult environment. Particularly the bar. (Food in the lounge etc). I won't moderate my language or conversation subject matter so that it's child appropriate when in an adult pub.

One answer......

There are no pubs near me that allow kids after 7pm and those that do before 7pm all serve food.

There a couple that don't allow kids at all and they're fab. Proper pubs.

I have kids, if I have a babysitter I don't want to be surrounded by other people's kids at night!

Perhaps if all those ex-smokers who never went to the pub because of smoking had returned after the ban, pubs wouldn't have to attract families into what was the last bastion of child-freedom.

There's always casinos.