To wish for an adults only pub?

[Floofydawg]

I mean, when did it become acceptable Saturday afternoon entertainment for small children to take them to the pub?

Walked into our local yesterday to what appeared to be a badly run nursery. One small child with iPad on, sound up. Large group of adults ignoring child, who is clearly bored. Starts crying loudly and mother/auntie decides to imitate child and pretend cry, very loudly.

Another group with four small children making a ridiculous amount of noise, so much so that the bar staff had to have a word with them as she couldn't hear to answer the phone. We were struggling to have a conversation.

Is it too much to ask for a quiet pint in a pub without having to listen to screeching kids?

…there is so much judgement on kids with iPads at the table?! If your kids are noisy and not sitting nicely you are judged, if you give them an iPad so they sit quietly and are entertained you are judged. Frankly there is no answer, except to say that if this is all you are judging people’s parenting on you might need to do a stint working on child protection cases. Trust me, there is far worst to be judgey about than screen time at the table .

I live in London and was asked to leave a pub when I went in with my then newborn (in a sling). I was quite surprised as generally London is pretty tolerant with kids but this was central.

If they sell food, you'd 100% expect kids to be allowed in but as I've said, there are loads of places that are not child friendly so still plenty of choice

I'd prefer to go to a pub where there aren't massive groups of people getting pissed but I don't get to choose who is allowed in. My choice is whether I go in.

I’ve learned to avoid my local on a Friday afternoon - it’s next door to the local primary and full of parents and kids after school pick up time.

YANBU.

Evenings 100% no children, daytime really depends on whether food is offered. Given the costs of some alternatives such as cinema and theatre, together with the poor quality of 'fast' food, I don't blame some parents for considering a visit to a pub as an alternative.

we have a nice adults-only pub near us. it is home to about 15 cats and the pub doesn't allow anyone under the age of 16 because kids can't be trusted to treat the cats with proper respect and deference. it does smell quite a lot of cat, but the beer is good.

It's the parents at fault here. We take our 6yr old to the pub some Saturday afternoons to meet friends, the kids behave themselves, in winter we take toys and colouring/activity books, in summer we sit outside so they can play in the garden. They know full well to sit nicely and keep the noise down when inside.

This is the exact post I was going to write down to the massive plastic tree. Did our parents frequent the same Essex pub or did they come as standard?

Well strictly speaking kids were not always allowed 'in' pubs, they were expected to be content outside with a few bags of crisps and a lemonade while the adults got pissed inside. Occasionally you would venture inside to ask how much longer your folks were going to be as you were getting frostbite only to be palmed off with another bag if crisps and a coke.

@Morph22010 I don't think the lady serving saw her, she was sat quietly at a table with DH when I went to the bar. It was only when we were asked to leave that it was explained about the licence, which is why I think another customer complained. Anyway, lesson learned, always ask if under 18s are allowed before ordering drinks, it has never seemed necessary before 😉

@DanseAvecLesLoup haha! This is very much my childhood memory of pubs.

Wow i love the sound of that! Where is this heavenly place!?

There's a pub near us that has a very strict no kids policy, it's absolute heaven to be honest. Love going there for dinner and a few drinks and enjoying the atmosphere for a few hours. Kids are great but there's also nothing wrong with wanting and enjoying completely kid-free spaces as an adult.

I think a lot of the pubs are barely surviving round here and rely on being able to attract families in on a weekend during the day. They have kids menus, playgrounds, one of them has a staffed table where all the kids can go and do activities to occupy them on a sunday. I see these kind of pubs as family friendly restaurants during the day. The ones that I wouldn't take a child too tend to be the ones without food or outdoor space.

Most pubs only way of surviving is to become family friendly restaurants.

There's no profit in quiet pint drinking.

It's not up to you to decide on the atmosphere of the establishment. If they didn't want it family orientated they can put a stop to it. Some people prefer it livelier. If you don't, you can move to a not-so-lively establishment. It's not up to everyone to cater to you.

@pinkyredrose catpub.co.uk/

There's 'lively', and then there's unacceptable behaviour. There's a big difference between the two.

The member of staff who had to speak to the noisy family was clearly not happy but as some posters have said, they probably need the business from these people. It's just a shame that the parents don't care that their kids are bothering other people.

Do Harvesters still exist? I haven’t seen one since about 1990.

Our local pub has a kids menu, high chairs, and a massive climbing frame/swing in the garden. It is definitely for children. The old man pub next to the betting shop definitely isn’t. People need to pick their venue.

Since when should children only be allowed to cheap restaurants like Harvester??

Children in family friendly pubs are fine so long as they are being patented properly.

Rowdy adults, with or without children , should also be regulated too. No one wants to hear other people's ridiculously loud out laughing and shouting, and loudly spoken swearing/coarse language, etc regardless of age.

Some people, with or without children, just seen to have forgotten how to behave appropriately in public place's unfortunately.

Unfortunately that's not an issue only limited to pubs. It's everywhere.

A lot of families with autistic children use screens at the tables, before screens they prob wouldn’t have been able to go at all. My child is autistic and we’ve tried not to use screens at table for meals and do other things as he’s generally been ok but because that’s him and how he is, it’s nothing to do with my parenting. You are wrong to judge others when your life is so much easier

We have the same, and also on weekends. There is a particular family who come in with three small children. The parents are completely happy for them to run around screaming whilst they sit drinking or standing outside smoking. One of the kids took to crawling under the tables hiding - she tried it with ours until I went down, scooped her up and took her back to the parents. Conversely there is another family who come in with children who sit with their iPads or phone and headphones and are absolutely fine.

You were obviously very posh because we never got crisps and it was one small glass bottle of coke and 2 straws for my Dsis and I to share!😁

In my lovely late parents defence though, they always sat outside with us and they didn't have much money, so it was once in a blue moon treat for us.

Same with going to the chippy, we only ever did that when we were on holiday.

What is an everyday thing now for many, was a real luxury for us!

…there is so much judgement on kids with iPads at the table?!

The judgement mainly comes from them being allowed to have the sound on, without headphones, in public spaces - be that in pubs, restaurants, in trains, plane journeys, etc.

People would feel the same about an adult playing loud music/programmes/games on a phone or tablet.