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AIBU?

Children in Pubs

232 replies

MaryJenson · 17/11/2018 06:31

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

Drives me mental!

OP posts:
Shoxfordian · 17/11/2018 06:33

Yes me too
It's really annoying especially when they're running around screaming and you just want a quiet drink

filka · 17/11/2018 06:37

YABU, if they weren't there the pub probably wouldn't survive for you to drink in at all. Try going a bit later.

Biancadelriosback · 17/11/2018 06:37

Surely they're not allowed in after 7pm?

Amanduh · 17/11/2018 06:45

‘Hordes’ of children ‘in the bar’ ?? At night?
Is it a family pub/restaurant then?

CocoDeMoll · 17/11/2018 06:47

Most pubs allow it. Parents need to have a life too. Dd lived in the pub when she was a toddler. Our village we moved to doesn’t have a pub Sad.

Why does it bother you? No one was ever bothered as I remember. Dd used to sit with the old guys at the bar so we could play pool Grin

OliviaStabler · 17/11/2018 06:55

Very annoying if they are being badly behaved.

MaryJenson · 17/11/2018 06:56

It is a pub restaurant, there’s a separate restaurant but they’re in the bar.

I realise parents need to have a life. I managed to have a life without standing at the bar with my toddler on my hip.

OP posts:
MaryJenson · 17/11/2018 06:58

It’s busy enough without having to negotiate kids wandering about. No-where for adults to sit and chat as all the seats taken by kids on gaming machines etc

OP posts:
Jaxtellerswife · 17/11/2018 07:10

If they are allowed in there then I guess it's just tough luck.

SnowBambino · 17/11/2018 07:14

Yanbu. I think after 7pm it’s not really on.

I hated it when I was ttc and going through infertility and recurrent miscarriage, and wanted to be away from family type places, and I’d hate it now I do have a baby, as if I ever make it to a pub after 7pm again, it will be to have some adult time away from my child, and I’d be mightily pissed off it it resembled a crèche.

BombBiggleton · 17/11/2018 07:16

Pubs actively encourage it now..nost pubs do food late into the evening, have lits og kids drinks etc.

They need to as the local pub trade is dying a death

Eliza9917 · 17/11/2018 07:18

I don't think children should be allowed in pubs that don't do food. And they shouldn't be allowed in any pubs after 7. There's no need for children to be in a pub.

I don't think every single place should make themselves accessible to families and children either.

If you are in an actual pub yanbu. If you are in somewhere like harvester then yabu.

LewisMam · 17/11/2018 07:22

YANBU. I made the decision to be a parent so have to accept that makes certain things off limits, like nights in the pub. I’d love to have a life but my right to go to the pub doesn’t trump everyone else’s. I wouldn’t dream of taking my DC to the pub and ruining everyone else’s evening as well as my own.

Monty27 · 17/11/2018 07:31

I feel your pain. I love children but not in the pub.

AuntieStella · 17/11/2018 07:31

Lots of pubs do have family licences (but not The Rovers Return or other soap pubs, so the idea that pub = adult is still pretty firmly rooted)

Venues which ban U18s tend to call themselves bars, and there are lots in towns/cities.

If pubs have a layout with separate rooms, making one adults only could be a very good idea. I would prefer my drinking dens to be child-free

Witchofwisteria · 17/11/2018 07:35

Go somewhere else then? I don't like children in a pub but I'd just leave and go to another one.

WizardOfToss · 17/11/2018 07:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LakieLady · 17/11/2018 07:41

I'm not keen, and avoid any pub that proclaims itself "family friendly" like the plague. However, I also realise that pubs are closing at an alarming rate and I'd rather a pub was full of children than closed down.

Some pubs manage to achieve a really good balance, where there are separate bars and one or two are adults only.

allthegoodusernameshavegone · 17/11/2018 07:44

Children in a pub is one thing, but running around screaming and encroaching on your space is another.

Timefor2 · 17/11/2018 07:51

We very often have one drink in the early evening with our two small kids but it’s a 45-60 minute visit only and we abandon plans if the toddler gets noisy. Our eldest has been out to so many pubs and restaurants and so knows she has to sit nicely and do some colouring etc. We visit somewhere between 5.30 and 7, always leaving at 7 latest as need to get the kids back for bed, and often have a quick meal. Im really interested whether this is ok in your view, or just no kids at all, ever, in pubs?

Basecamp65 · 17/11/2018 08:00

Go to an old fashioned traditional pub then. If you can still find one.

They are desperate for your custom and there will not be children in there.

There are plenty of places that are not pub/restaurants- go there.

Sparklyshoes16 · 17/11/2018 09:42

We went to a nice 'adult' bar/restaurant last night...sat round the table next to us was a family of 5 Mum, Dad young child around 4, one around 7/8 and the other 12...they wouldn't stop moaning and constantly asking for stuff because they were very bored! The restaurant didn't have colouring books, or anything to entertain the children so we were a bit perplexed why the parents had brought them to a very well known 'adults only type place' The youngest one was allowed by the parents to sit on the floor and play with a phone so the waiting staff had to keep stepping over her...request to sit her at the table were ignored! We decided to just get drinks and starters and move on to somewhere else, as we were leaving the table was just a complete mess...white table cloth type place.

All we wanted was a kid free zone for a night but more and more 'adults only' type bars/restaurants are becoming family places near us.

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Runningishard · 17/11/2018 09:53

I’ve stopped going to a local bar because of people bringing kids in. It’s a tap room so no food or anything remotely child friendly about it. One couple have just had a baby, bring the massive pram in which talks up a third of the floor space. It ruins the particular vibe of the place

Tramadolmaybe · 17/11/2018 09:57

If they’re well behaved (not running around or screaming etc) then yes they should be allowed.
I live miles from anything other than my local pub, I’d have been disappointed had they not allowed my dc in over the years. They do say no children past 9pm (which is fair anyway) but they ignore that if they’re sitting quietly with you.

kalinkafoxtrot45 · 17/11/2018 10:03

I don’t mind if they are well behaved, but if yelling and screaming, or running around getting in everyone’s way, then it’s not on. Really, if you have small children who can’t sit still for a while, then some places are off limits to you until they are older and that’s just what you take on when you become a parent.

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