No children in pub after 5pm

[SweetSouls]

My local banned children after 7pm a few years ago.

This seemed unnecessary to me, but I suppose that's after 'bed time' so I could sort of see the logic. Adult time etc.

On Saturday I went to stop there for a drink in the afternoon, and they have now banned children after 5pm.

This seems very odd to me given it's an area that people move to with their families. It's not some town centre boozer, it's surrounded by housing.

Is this just not terrible business? I do not get it at all.

It was almost empty, incidentally, at 5.15 on a Saturday afternoon.

Don't even go there - I volunteer in one and it's bad anyway, but in the school holidays it becomes hellish

I actually love seeing kids come in to enjoy books, but that's not what many are doing; instead the parents gossip and text and the DCs fling books around, race and shriek

There are plenty of places kids are allowed in, I remember the halcyon days of child free pubs, bring it on!

I also agree!

I can see both sides to this particular argument. Personally, I don’t mind seeing kids in pubs during the day, as long as they aren’t running riot. In the evening though, they really shouldn’t be there. I’ve worked in restaurants, and there are many parents who don’t take care of their kids. I’ve been tripped up by small children who were running around whilst carrying plates of food while their parents ignored them. They’ve fallen and hurt themselves and I’ve had to find their parents. One woman came in on Mother’s Day with her baby (about a year old) got pissed, and then asked me to hold her baby for a while as she couldn’t soothe them.

It's not the taking children to pubs and restaurants that teaches them how to behave. It's parents actually parenting and taking the time and effort to raise their children to have manners, show consideration to others, behave in appropriate ways for different contexts.

Yes - and also taking children at an appropriate stage, when they will understand yes and no, won't scream because they don't get their own way, and will behave as expected for their age. Good behaviour partly depends on how the parents act and bring up their children, see below, but it is also down to age. You don't expect a 3 year old to behave like a 10 year old. It's about taking kids to places when they can appreciate them.

A little while ago I was in a cafe where there were two young children and they started banging their cutlery on the table. After about 30 seconds, their mum told them to stop...and they....stopped. There wasn't another peep out of them. Now if you bring kids like that into a pub nobody minds.

ok fair enough I accept that . But people here already get offended when I say it’s cultural , if I say your kids are brats because you made them that way it will go down even worse lol
I always feel both sides here are unfair , I grew up in Spain and Portugal but lived in the U.K. much longer than I lived in those 2 countries , my children where born here although I do keep a lot from my childhood and wouldn’t say they where brought up as the norm here .
So one side of me feels it’s unfair when I can’t take he kids out for a dinner without someone giving me the evil look , specially because kids are actually ok and from the odd occasion ( they are children after all ) . They are brilliant on planes and traveling and eating out because we take them out often and abroad often and they get used to it and there is no way I would just let my kids create havoc.

On the other hand yes I agree some kids are awful but again , it is the parents fault , the children are so unprepared , they never been to posh restaurant , they get horrendous if they are not in bed by 7 , they eat only from kids menus , they have no skills .
So again it’s cultural , and again , I dont say this to offend but it is

So one side of me feels it’s unfair when I can’t take he kids out for a dinner without someone giving me the evil look , specially because kids are actually ok and from the odd occasion ( they are children after all ) .

You can't take them out to Nando's? Or Pizza Hut?

They are brilliant on planes and traveling and eating out because we take them out often and abroad often and they get used to it and there is no way I would just let my kids create havoc.

Even if kids may seem 'brilliant' to their parents, their presence changes the ambience of a place. Some people just want a night out with other adults. I don't care what they do or don't do 'on the continent'.

Anonymous2025
I agree with you that it's cultural. There's a lot of parents in the UK who expect manners, context appropriate behaviour, take their children out to pubs/cafes/restaurants and make a huge effort to teach their children how to behave. They probably do similar things to you.

We took DC out to places that were age appropriate for expectations from a young age eg. Coffee in a cafe for a short period of time, brunch, lunch in a cafe with a play space, pub lunches and then gradually built up to evening meals. My children aren't perfect, but they're well behaved and know what's expected. The way some lazy parents talk, you'd think that UK children are innately programmed to run feral and then there's a magical unicorn child who is born knowing how to behave. I suspect it makes them feel better about either not putting the effort in or not bothering to make compromised when their DC were little so they could learn how to behave.

Miserable sods who give evil looks at well behaved children enjoying a family meal in a venue that serves meals to families are going to be miserable sods in general life in my experience. I don't tend to worry about them.

Having kids does change the atmosphere of pubs though so I'm supportive of saying it's an adult only venue after early evening (once early dinner service has ended).

Some adults (including parents with kids) like to be in an environment where you can say what you like without little ears overhearing.

Once a friend was in a pub (I wasn’t there) and said she got told off by some parents at the next table/seating to hers as she apparently laughed too loudly (she does have a loud laugh) and told rude jokes near some children with their parents which the parents said weren’t suitable for their DC to hear! The rude jokes only used a few swear words and weren’t that rude and my friend said the kids (who were apparently 6 year old twins as some of my friend’s friends asked) were screaming and shouting eg quarrelling and overtired a bit but not all the time, too, and on iPads (but sound turned down) and she didn’t think they’d heard… this was at 9.30pm in the evening…. This was at a gastro pub type venue but on the trendier side.

My friend said, “I do apologise for my behaviour and any language I used if it spoiled your evening, but don’t you think it’s now past your children’s bedtime?!”. Cue cat’s bum mouth from the complaining mother and they left not long afterwards.

And that is why the U.K. is an unfriendly place to children🤷🏻‍♀️. You are explaining it yourself . People here seem to get annoyed simply by a child’s presence , even if they are not doing anything , even if all they are doing is sitting down . That attitude is not felt elsewhere . That’s the cultural part that should change . Or at least if people like you don’t want change then don’t get offended by outsiders assuming you don’t like children . Because the reality is the U.K. is very child unfriendly . That’s simply due to people being so entitled they for some reason assume they have more rights than children to be in places . Once more it’s the culture

I can assure you that plenty of people 'elsewhere', yes maybe even in those incredible 'Mediterranean countries,' do not want to be surrounded by other people's 'brilliant' children at all times of the day or night. There are plenty of places in Britain where children are welcome. There are other places where they are not. And yes, such places exist 'elsewhere' too. I usually avoid restaurants which advertise themselves as 'family friendly' but if for whatever reason I might be in one, I wouldn't complain about the presence of children. Likewise, if you want to eat in a more sophisticated environment, you can't expect others are going to be that impressed by your 'brilliant' children.

I couldn't care less if you assume I 'like children' or not.

I do think in certain pubs and on certain occasions children are welcomed. I know of a few proper east end boozers who eg after christenings and weddings happily welcome children, especially if they’ve held the catering there.

I don’t think you have to ban children by any means but as has been said before, the ones who are misbehaved will give others a bad name. My DNephew (5) on a good day eats well and behaves well but when we went to a pub with food and games (including video games and games consoles) he quite quickly didn’t want to engage with adults and just wanted to play games… but that was partly our fault for choosing that environment.

That's because the kids are now turning into adults. Kids menus and "fun pubs" were a big thing twenty years ago but they've grown up and are now the parents.

But those parents in turn are going to want to take their kids to fun pubs with kid menus, so it's not really a one-generation kind of thing...

(Although having grown up in a party town, for me the words 'fun pub' conjure up a slightly different atmosphere, and not a kid-friendly one either... 😄)

The UK I actually find isn’t that unfriendly to children. Most places I’ve visited with children they’ve been fine. It depends entirely on the venue, area and parents. Cafe Rouge Dulwich, generally naicer parents. I’m not saying poorer parents aren’t fine either because I’ve found they actually are too but demographic can help.

It’s certainly not as bad as in 70s when it was no kids, dogs etc! My first meal at a restaurant back then was at a local new restaurant serving beef burgers, chips, and knicker bocker glories and sundaes, plus cocktails including virgin ones and decorated with signed black and white photos of movie stars and music stars plus the owners and waiters/waitresses were really friendly and welcoming to families with children. They had colouring pencils and paper too. Otherwise restaurants very rarely welcomed children. So things have definitely moved on since those days!

Completely agree

I think it is good as children should not be in the pub later than that say for a lunch as not a good environment. Never had my son in a pub as so many other restaurants can go to. Different if a lunch time but not for an evening at all. What child wants to be stuck in a pub all evening anyway.

Oh fuck off. Pubs. Aren’t. For. Kids.

Kids out at 11pm? I can’t think of anyone who’d want that including the parents

Clearly you haven’t been abroad much ! I just spoke with my brother in law who was at his mother in law birthday party and they where yet to cut the cake c there was about 8 kids all under 10 there . It’s very normal

@Anonymous2025 When I go abroad I choose adult only hotels

But why do you think those are the only options? There's a world of nuance between 'pub that's basically a restaurant' and 'dark and dingy old man pubs' it's not either/or. (When do you consider to have been 'the olden days', by the way? Just curious.)

I have to say I think some pps haven’t actually been in many pubs given the images of dark hellpits of inebriation and foul language that have been conjured up on this thread. Of course some pubs are like that. But very many aren’t, and some even succeed at being actual pubs and not refectories while also being pleasant spaces to be in.

Our local is pretty much my idea of the perfect pub. Nicely decorated spaces, plenty of seating, friendly staff, music is in the background not blasting people’s ears off. Best of all in my eyes (not being a massive fan of how food has come to dominate most social occasions), it doesn’t serve food apart from Sunday lunch and a few ham rolls and things, so the overall aesthetic isn’t dominated by food or its smells or waitstaff tripping to and fro. I don’t know what the kids policy is, but I don’t recall ever seeing any/many in there and I presume that’s because of the absence of all-day-every-day food.

It’s got a great atmosphere. But it’s for grown-ups. And personally I enjoy socialising in a space that doesn’t have peas trodden into the carpet, stink of spilt vinegar or have kids swinging off the backs of strangers’ chairs as happened to me the last time I was in a pub. There are plenty of child-friendly pubs, and plenty of places that allow kids after 5 p.m. I fail to see why the idea of there being some nice spaces catering mainly to adults is so foreign to some.

Don't go to this pub, OP!

(Sign designed to make Mumsnet explode, I think)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv2rp4dmxv2o

Why are you telling me to fuck off? Or are you being sarky or PA? I know pubs aren't for kids.

Most kids I know are desperate to be at home, on an ipad/watching TV, squabbling about bed/bath time and the pub is the last place they'd want to be!

Even when me and DP's did go to pubs (gardens!) as DC with them on summer evenings, we spent most of the time playing in the garden and would have much rather have been at home, but was a large spread out garden, pretty with ponds and a fountain I believe and paths, and hardly anyone ever came out from the pub! It's now sadly been turned into a huge car park - don't think they've got much of a garden apart from seating area outside the pub, but it's a Harvester now, not the landlord owned/leased pub it was before.