Children running round Wetherspoons

[AleFailTrail]

AIBU to think the Spoons isn’t a family pub in the vein of hungry horse etc. And that if your child sprints in to someone carrying a pint or two, causing them to fall and spill said pints, you should at the least apologise to the person and replace the drinks, rather than scoop up a beer soaked kid and walk off. Or when they pull a menu board down strand it back up and tell the child off, not reassure them it’s okay and the staff will sort it? There’s no play areas and the pub is very, very full right now.

-A very beer soaked RailAleFail who is mourning a pint of porter and her boyfriend’s cider

As an aside OP, do you know if you use the app, they'll bring the drinks (and food if you are ordering it) to the table?

Gosh - good for you- and good for Wetherspoons

It's a family pub, kids crayons and menus. Quite what did you expect?

Perhaps not for children to run into her and go into her handbag??

I don't think spoons is ideal for taking children.
Dp and I have our own league table of grime.
After dining in one (the town will remain nameless) one Saturday lunchtime and being exposed to the most vile language spewing from the mouth of some elderly men, we call that pub the absolute shithole of establishments.
Seriously it made Macdonalds look like the Ritz.
So when ever dp or I mention a place, we have a scale with that particular spoons being the gutter and a sliding scale above it.
Dps best friends dd works in another Spoons, which is ok. She says it's just rammed with alcoholic low life. Even Christmas morning they are queing outside waiting for their first pint.

Wetherspoons can be lovely. They are often in beautiful old buildings. The halloumi sandwich thing is really nice and I love the mix of people although I don't like going at busy times.

My local spoons is vile, but I went to the one in Windsor this week and it was lovely.

It did help that we dined al fresco as the sun was out and it was warm. Well done to your spoons for kicking that awful family out!

Our nearest Hungry Horse is terrible. Sticky menus, sticky tables, booths with a TV in so no need to talk. Food is horrible too.

Hi OP pleased to hear that the team at Spoons treated you well today and value you as a customer.

Parents parenting their DC whilst enjoying a drink or 2 is becoming a bigger problem. Unfortunately it isn’t safe for the little darlings to run around unsupervised, often without shoes, especially as out the front door is the main road. Nor can they be allowed to play the on the machines (that’s gambling) or to go to the bar to fetch daddy a drink (that’s underage drinking).

The team who are usually short staffed will try to ask nicely first but as that rarely makes any difference then being asked to leave coms next.

I am a remainer through and through but do go into our local from time to time and have a couple of my DC friends who work there as it is a good job to combine with Uni.

I used to like Spoons until I realised the owner was an utter knob. I would never set foot in one now.

Our local one is where the gammon congregate and fight anyway so it's one normal people avoid automatically.

It doesn't matter how "child friendly" a pub/ restaurant is, it doesn't affect the hazard of children charging around into staff and customers in food/ drink serving areas. Play appropriately in any play areas provided, but not running around drinking and eating areas.

I did walk toddlers around holding hands when they reached the can't sit still stage. Generally it was easier and more relaxing to just not go. Family occasions were better as they were more entertaining, but there were still occasions that we had to settle up quickly and escape before the DCs reached public nuisence mode. I've had too many trips to the pub ruined by other people non-parenting their children and I've never wanted to inflict my DCs on surrounding people in that way. I tend to avoid our nearest because the chances of encountering non-parenting over a couple of bottles of wine is too unfavourable.

At least the customer service was good in recompense and the offending family removed.

I used to take DS to Wetherspoons, then stopped because his ADHD made it unbearable. He's much better now at 7. Both my younger DC sit on their arses and draw or we go home. Now he just kicks off when I'm getting an Uber.

Thanks Insomnibrat.

As a massive aside (sorry OP) MrsChollySawcutt I love your name...

Back to the thread! Kids running around pubs drives me mad. Yes, they should be allowed in most pubs, however, their parents should be made to control them. If the parents are incapable of parenting then they should stay away until they can.

What skunk said.

Doing if I can take my DD out to eat and manage her behaviour I damn well expect others to do the same. You don't know if there could be reasons behind what some might perceive as "bad" behaviour, such as ADHD so it's wrong to jump to conclusions. In this instance my problem would have been the lack of parenting that OP describes. Family Friendly does not = unsupervised playground.

AIBU to think the Spoons isn’t a family pub in the vein of hungry horse etc.
YABU

The rest of it YANBU

I’m with the “snobs”. Wetherspoons and their microwave assembly food is not for me.
I would rather eat out and have one nicely cooked meal rather than 2-3 microwaved.

As for TV screens and play areas... perhaps that is the problem. When I was small you were expected to behave eating out.
A few crayons and colouring is great to interact with kids whilst waiting but play areas in restaurants! Surely that encourages kids to run to and fro.

YANBU. Its not only an inconveniece its also a safe guarding matter.
What if a waiter/ess spilled hot coffee on a child who was running around.

I would rather eat out and have one nicely cooked meal rather than 2-3 microwaved.

Good for you. Some people can only afford one microwaved meal.

YANBU to expect an apology and the points replaced. YANBU to expect parents to try and control their children more than that in a public place.
But YABU to say that Wetherspoon's isnt a family friendly pub because it very much is during the day. It's got very cheap food and drink and colouring crayons etc... and it's usually pretty noisy in the bigger ones which is great if you have kids because they dont make it any more obviously noisey than it was before lol

But the situation you've described is pretty appalling.. no way I'd let my kids behave like that and if for some reason they did I'd be bending over backwards to apologise and buy new drinks.

Raspberry88

What’s with the attempt to try and shame someone for their opinion and choices?

I haven’t made any detrimental remark towards anybody that would rather have a microwaved meal. It is their choice, I’m just stating mine.

I came from an extremely poor background and now I’m comfortable but I make no apology for that and it is very annoying to see people criticised on MN for being anything less than destitute.
It’s inverted snobbery and quite frankly it is ridiculous.

You shouldn’t judge when you don’t know somebody. It’s very ignorant.

Why is it snobbish to dislike Wetherspoons? Poor people are as entitled as anybody to good quality food at affordable prices. They don't get it in Wetherspoons.

I've never gone to a Wetherspoons because I couldn't be bothered to make lunch. We either do it as part of a day out or to attend a Tolkien Society meet.

"I am a remained through and through."

Why does Brexit got brought into everything.