Page 9 | No children in pub after 5pm

SweetSouls · 2024-04-15T09:16:20+00:00

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.

TayIor · 15/04/2024 14:46

Devonshiregal · 15/04/2024 14:39

Nope. It brings a lot of trouble and some cheap small plate meals for the kids. You have to do more work more often than not and make less. Also 7pm is usual licensing terms.

And you might think it’s fun having a room full of screaming children while you’re trying to carry hot food and hot drinks across a packed room but I can assure you 99% of hospitality staff and owners do not. Also, perhaps you’re one of the wonderful ones who don’t let their kids jig up and down, run around inside and out, run behind the bar, stand by doors, drop food all over the floor and leave snot rags for the staff to clean up but again, I can assure you, that there are a surprising amount of parents who simply ‘let go’ of their parental responsibilities as soon as they enter the building, preferring to drink their drinks and enjoy their “break” rather than chase around after their kids. So who has to do the telling off and getting kids to stop climbing the fire escapes - oh yes, the staff. Annnnd who then yells at said staff for performing these unpaid childcare services? Oh yes, the parents!

If you come to a pub and sit down for an hour and a half then leave, all quietly and respectfully then that is wonderful. But LOTS don’t. And a 5pound plate of fish diners, chips and beans does not a profit turn.

So yes, I can understand why a landlord might just say take your kids elsewhere on a Saturday evening please.

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Our pub meaning my pub! So yeah I'm well aware thanks and this is not at all how the children behave in our pub. We do what works for us, and that's letting kids in til 8pm. The people who don't want to be around kids come in after 8pm. The pub is busy day and night. It would be empty in the day if we didn't allow kids.

2024istheyearforme · 15/04/2024 14:51

my local would go under if they did that, everyone takes kids there for dinner most nights its full with families until 6.30/7 all eating also has a lovely garden they all play in

Abouttimeforanamechange · 15/04/2024 14:52

The two other pubs locally (one a Wetherspoons) allow children until 8 or 9 and allow dogs

Wetherspoons don't allow dogs, or didn't, last I heard. Except genuine assistance dogs, of course.

DistinguishedSocialCommentator · 15/04/2024 14:52

GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 15/04/2024 10:37

For them to extend the child free time, it suggests either the post 7pm ban has been a roaring success or they've had major problems with kids in the 5-7pm window.

Nothing else to add to that, thanks

Itloggedmeoutagain · 15/04/2024 14:55

SweetSouls · 15/04/2024 12:12

How are children supposed to learn how to behave if they aren’t taken anywhere?

Parents should parent their children, obviously kids shouldn’t be running riot, but it seems a shame to not take your child to eg a gallery.

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Child of the 70s here
Not taken to pubs
But when i did eventually go to pubs, miraculously, i knew how to behave.

PoppingTomorrow · 15/04/2024 14:56

Not everywhere has to be kid friendly.

BrownTroutBlues · 15/04/2024 14:56

I thought kids were only allowed in pubs when being served food.
Am I completely out of date here?

CustardySergeant · 15/04/2024 14:57

Mrsjayy · 15/04/2024 11:00

I remember in the late 70s early 80s we would be sat in a pub on a saturday with a packet of crisps and a Lemonade apparently it was after a walk but we would basically just walk to the pub !

I was a child in the 50s to 60s and had to sit in the car outside the pub on my own for hours.

I would never do that to my own child.

I think pubs with gardens are ideal for children to go with parents if they want to go to the pub, but have no problem with pubs not wanting children inside the pub in the evening.

AppleDumplingWithCustard · 15/04/2024 14:58

DJQuackers · 15/04/2024 13:30

I don't know how the UK became so anti-child, it's become quite a pathetic society.

Probably because many parents stopped parenting. When they decided that their children should be allowed to do exactly as they want regardless of anyone else’s comfort.

BringMeSunshineAllDayLong · 15/04/2024 14:58

GR8GAL · 15/04/2024 11:01

I can't image a sadder image than a parent drinking cans in a playground.

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We quite often used to make a picnic, get some drinks and let the kids play in the park with their friends for hours making dens and climbing trees while we chatted and had a few drinks. Some of mine and the kids favourite times. Cheap, fun, let the kids have some freedom (around the ages of 7 to 10 especially good) but we were near enough for any issues. We weren't getting rat arsed. Yet a bit merry. Come sunset kids exhausted and fed, quick bath, stories then bed. Sometimes one less drinking/non drinking parent would take a few of the kids for a sleepover or we would all pile back to ours order a takeaway and let the kids watch a film.

Barleysugar86 · 15/04/2024 15:07

BombBiggleton · 15/04/2024 10:32

No pub actually wants kids there; they are often unruly and badly parented by parents just getting sloshed.

They reluctantly accept them for business reasons.

If they haven't got a kids playground then that tells you kids are admitted with gritted teeth,

Not true- our local pub holds regular kid focused events, has a shelf of board games for families to use, and the landlady will always come over for a cuddle with a baby. Kids are also welcome until 9pm. It's a real centre of the community place, but no playground!

DuchessOfSausage · 15/04/2024 15:09

Deathbyfluffy · 15/04/2024 14:23

This.
Our local had a similar problem - kids either sat on tablets with noise blaring, running around being a pain in the backside or generally being loud and obnoxious when people are trying to enjoy their meal / drink.

It's now child-free and enjoyable again thankfully!
The problem isn't the pub, it's the parents who let their little 'angels' run riot.

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That was like the pub we went to. One PFB performing the same routine announcing herself as if she was on Stars in their Eyes, over and over. The sibling was running around annoying other kids. Mama and Papa did nothing to get them to behave. The pub is in a nicer part of town but I'd rather be in a backstreet boozer with no kids.

Devonshiregal · 15/04/2024 15:12

TayIor · 15/04/2024 14:46

Our pub meaning my pub! So yeah I'm well aware thanks and this is not at all how the children behave in our pub. We do what works for us, and that's letting kids in til 8pm. The people who don't want to be around kids come in after 8pm. The pub is busy day and night. It would be empty in the day if we didn't allow kids.

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You must live in a magical area if the majority aren’t utter dickheads with their kids. Also that adults can be trusted not to swear badly, drink too much and not accidentally wave cigarettes dangerously near kids faces as they scurry by in the garden. Genuinely very pleased for you - if only this were the case everywhere.

Geebray · 15/04/2024 15:18

BrownTroutBlues · 15/04/2024 14:56

I thought kids were only allowed in pubs when being served food.
Am I completely out of date here?

Yes.

BrownTroutBlues · 15/04/2024 15:21

Geebray · 15/04/2024 15:18

Yes.

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Wow.
Just goes to show how often I go to the pub!
Do you know when this rule changed

Vod · 15/04/2024 15:22

Geebray · 15/04/2024 15:18

Yes.

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That, and also people coming in for meals is a bigger part of pub clientele than it would've been a few decades back. If we picked one adult in one pub at random, they'd be more likely to be in there eating than they would've been say 30 years ago.

Gettingonmygoat · 15/04/2024 15:22

The owners are probably fed up with children running around causing mayhem whilst their parents are happily getting pissed. Free range children put a lot of adults off, if i had just finished work and decide to eat out and spend £60 on dinner and drinks i wouldn't want to have my dinner ruined by noisy unruly children. Most parents have control of their children but it only takes one family to ruin everyone's evening.

PoppyCherryDog · 15/04/2024 15:24

LenaLamont · 15/04/2024 10:18

Their pub, their choice.

They have obviously decided being “family friendly” across a mealtime isn’t something they want. Or perhaps it alienates their more profitable customers.

This it’s up to the pub and they have obviously decided the family market isn’t their focus

ByeAgain · 15/04/2024 15:26

Whilst some parents let their kids run riot, that is seen as poor behaviour. And pub staff can have some definitive grounds to step in. The worse issue is the parents that let their kids wave and chat to diners who feel obliged to engage. And staff can’t really intervene.

When my kids were kind of young and cute, I knew that was subjective and would not have dreamed of letting them approach and ‘chat’ to strangers having a meal out. Many parents are stupid and deluded.

fitzwilliamdarcy · 15/04/2024 15:29

As always we’ve now got the usual “the UK is so anti-child!!!!” posters when in reality I think the opposite is true. Society has forgotten that anyone other than families exist, and everywhere must be family-friendly.

It’s there in OP’s opening post - pub is surrrounded by houses, which of course must be full of families because no other type of household exists or needs catered to in any way.

I would love an adult space where I could go for peace and quiet but even the much-suggested afternoon tea for its ambience has been taken over where I am, by parents of kids who “love the tiny little sandwiches” (and running around the tables).

Greywitch2 · 15/04/2024 15:31

I hate kids in pubs. I'd happily eat in one that had the banned them, to be honest. It's not the right environment for children.

Goldenbear · 15/04/2024 15:35

BombBiggleton · 15/04/2024 10:32

No pub actually wants kids there; they are often unruly and badly parented by parents just getting sloshed.

They reluctantly accept them for business reasons.

If they haven't got a kids playground then that tells you kids are admitted with gritted teeth,

We live in a City and there are no pubs with playgrounds, only a few have small gardens, there are certain pubs that are definitely family friendly mainly because their own DC are present.

Allfur · 15/04/2024 15:35

PamPamPamPam · 15/04/2024 13:49

@DianaTaverner and your response is a perfect example of the hysteria around this sort of conversation. Most of the posters have made the point that outside of pubs, there are so so many child-friendly venues (including cafes, family-friendly restaurants, chains, soft play, museums, galleries, libraries, parks etc).

Nobody is suggesting that parents spend 16 years going to McDonald's. But I appreciate that paraphrasing what lots of posters are saying in the way that you have fits your narrative.

It is also important to note that there is a huge difference between a toddler and a teenager. And quite a few posters have said that their toddlers enjoy being in pubs and speaking to other patrons etc-with absolutely no awareness or regard for others' sense of enjoyment. And especially with prices being what they are now-I'm not prepared to pay upwards of £10 a drink to provide ad hoc babysitting services for parents who let their children run riot in pubs.

Most of the 'running riot' I see in pubs comes from adult men

YourFogLightsAreOnTheresNoFog · 15/04/2024 15:37

Mrsjayy · 15/04/2024 10:32

I mean do they do food ? .I don't know why people would want to take their kids to a pub after 5pm just to sit whilst the parents had a gin!

If a pub has a play area it is good fun to go and have a drink of pop and some crisps. It was rare treat when I was young.

Allfur · 15/04/2024 15:38

Gettingonmygoat · 15/04/2024 15:22

The owners are probably fed up with children running around causing mayhem whilst their parents are happily getting pissed. Free range children put a lot of adults off, if i had just finished work and decide to eat out and spend £60 on dinner and drinks i wouldn't want to have my dinner ruined by noisy unruly children. Most parents have control of their children but it only takes one family to ruin everyone's evening.

Free range pissed up sports fans put me off