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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To pick a pub with a log burner for a family meal?

238 replies

hippohippohippo · 09/01/2022 11:43

It's my DH's birthday and I've booked a table at a pub for us and SIL and family. We have a 6 month old and they have a 5 month old. SIL says they are free but not coming, as the pub has a logburner and it's winter and might be on. It hadn't occurred to me that this was a problem and am fine taking my DS (and have regularly been to pubs with a logburner). She insists we look for somewhere that doesn't have a fire if we want them there. Is she being unreasonable or am I?

OP posts:
MeredithGreyishblue · 09/01/2022 12:00

Presumably you're going for lunch not camping out right by the fire for 6 months?

Honestly, it's a huge over reaction.

Not having a log burner in your own home for lung reasons is one thing. Not going to a pub (where you might be sat nowhere near said logs) for an hour or so is silly.

JabNotInArm · 09/01/2022 12:02

@JesusInTheCabbageVan

I mean, I know they're horrific polluters and wouldn't have one for that reason, but is there really a risk of you're sitting in a large, well ventilated building with one for 2-3 hours at most?
"The World Health Organization limit is 25μg/m3 over 24 hours. “Epidemiologists are increasingly recognising that exposure to high intensities of [small particles] over much shorter periods of time – hours rather than days – is linked to a range of health issues,” the researchers wrote."

Even so, if you don't make a concerted effort not to spend time around them with a baby then I suppose it becomes a risk as they're so common.

GTAlogic · 09/01/2022 12:02

@JesusInTheCabbageVan

Bunnycat101

She’s being a bit crazy. Also good luck trying to find a pub without a fire.

Wetherspoons!

The ones near me have open fires so not even them!

Summersdreaming · 09/01/2022 12:03

This would never cross my mind!

Wheresmywoolyjumpers · 09/01/2022 12:04

Log burners are not good for the environment or for us to be around especially if you have breathing issues. I expect they will be banned soon which is why I wont be getting one.

girlmom21 · 09/01/2022 12:04

To be fair I wouldn't ever consider sitting a baby in a room with an open smoky fire

ArrrMeHearties · 09/01/2022 12:07

She's making a mountain out of a molehill unless her baby has serious respitory issues

AnonAnom940 · 09/01/2022 12:08

I wouldn't go. They are very polluting for the air inside the pub. Really dislike them. Definitely wouldn't go with a small baby in such a polluted environment

Dontletthemuggglesgetyoudown · 09/01/2022 12:10

Just go without them

Woodlandwater · 09/01/2022 12:11

If it's a closed door log burner there is minimal risk. The risk to people sitting in a room is when the door is opened for refuelling, and most risk to the person doing the refuelling. People have conflated the pollution that ends up in the room and the pollution that ends up out of the chimney. It is not like having a diesel engine in your living room if you are careful with refuelling, have a closed door system and a lined chimney.
I use mine with an air purifier that kicks in when the air quality drops, it only ever kicks in when I open the door and even then only for a few minutes before the air is clean.

Sparklingbrook · 09/01/2022 12:14

In the OP's situation I would go without them. It's the OP's DH's birthday and he can have this meal where he likes.

How do people cope if they turn up to a pub they've never been to without booking and it has a log burner? Drive round and round until they find one that doesn't? Confused

Pendolino · 09/01/2022 12:16

PFB. Log burners generate lung damaging particulates, but it’s chronic exposure over a long period that causes most of the damage, not a few hours.

Magnited · 09/01/2022 12:17

I think she is worried her kids might melt within 30 seconds?

rrhuth · 09/01/2022 12:17

Wood burners are very bad for air quality, as an adult I wouldn't worry although I would never have one at home, but I might not want to take a baby these days now we know more about it.

Flippydip · 09/01/2022 12:19

She sounds bonkers. Most people I know, including us, use them as our only source of heating. Does she worry about her child leaving the house in general?

2022success · 09/01/2022 12:21

I would respond saying "OK. Thanks for letting us know, I will let the pub know there will be X number now. See you soon."

ancientgran · 09/01/2022 12:21

@JabNotInArm

Log burners are bloody horrible things - worse for air quality than Diesel engines.

Doubt it'll be long until they're banned.

www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/18/wood-burners-triple-harmful-indoor-air-pollution-study-finds

Yes and I'm surprised people don't seem to know about it.
ExtremelyDetermined · 09/01/2022 12:23

Good luck with that at this time of year, and yes, our Wetherspoons has one.

I know they are hideously polluting, we've had one for 20 years but have cut right back on its use now because of concerns about it, but a couple of hours sat some way from one in a pub will do no harm.

Enough4me · 09/01/2022 12:23

I chose YANBU as you booked in good faith and didn't know about the issue, but equally she is NBU as they are toxic to lungs. I'd book somewhere else if I could.

Jennalong · 09/01/2022 12:24

How does she think she even exists ?
Her ancestors would have heated theirhouses with open fires , and the fact that she had been born is proof they lived to produce children , who would have lived the same and so on .

girlmom21 · 09/01/2022 12:25

@Jennalong

How does she think she even exists ? Her ancestors would have heated theirhouses with open fires , and the fact that she had been born is proof they lived to produce children , who would have lived the same and so on .
Living long enough to produce children is a pretty low bar to aim for
Scottishskifun · 09/01/2022 12:26

Its very easy to request a table away from it for a meal she is being a bit ridiculous tbh!

We have a log burner at home it heats our house and living rurally with power cuts in Winter most friends have them too! They have to be a certain spec and you buy proper wood with several years seasoning so the smoke is less. I don't see the point of them I the middle of cities but log burners are a necessity in other parts of the country in Winter with storms etc.

We didn't have DS in the same room when a baby and as a toddler it's now lit to warm but it's not the room he sits and plays in.

ivykaty44 · 09/01/2022 12:27

will SIL be taking her dc in the car? ever?

pollution inside a car is much worse for a baby than an adult, and therefore you'll need to let SIL know,
www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/10/vehicle-pollution-results-in-4m-child-asthma-cases-a-year

I doubt an afternoon in a pub with a log burner will be much more polluting

Fallagain · 09/01/2022 12:29

They are horrific for air pollution. I’m amazed at the number of parents who would (rightly) not allow smoking around their children but who then install log burners.

As for your question I’m not sure I would have considered it but there is still a significant SIDS risk at this age so it’s probably not the greatest idea.

ThePlumVan · 09/01/2022 12:32

Morning made - Thanks MN Grin