To say that there should be some adult only options?

[TooPoor4PandaPooTea]

Pubs making the decision to ban children

‘It dictated the whole atmosphere’: why some landlords are banning kids from pubs | Pubs | The Guardian https://share.google/E6IXhVu1U5Iv9vP7n

No doubt, just as there are often threads on here from complainers wanting adult only space who think they're entitled to expect private businesses to cater to their whims over the profit margin. People have an audacity problem.

But after all that, hospitality venues will still choose to cater for whatever they think the most lucrative client base is. And nobody, within the law, has any right to expect they do otherwise.

The hospitality sector evidently doesn't think you outweigh all the people who want to attend venues with children though. If they're wrong, either someone tells them or they're going to carry on.

What do you suppose people who don't drive at all do if their kid needs to go to hospital ( which is a rare occasion. My " kids are between 35 and 22.In all those years had an urgent hospital trip TWICE

I think businesses should be entitled to judge their market and if they feel this will attract customers in tough times for their industry, then fair play to them. Other pubs that are well set up for the family market will make different decisions so there should still be something for everyone.

This pub is in east London with plenty of young people and child free couples to still stay in profit. A village pub or pub in a more suburban family area is a different proposition I imagine as the punters are more likely to have children, and it’s a more family affair. A balance of pubs that do allow children vs those that don’t is ideal. I have no issue with well behaved children in a pub but so many have parents who let them run wild and treat it like their living room. That ruins the atmosphere - and is a health & safety hazard.

I do wonder who spends more in a pub. A group of child free people who will drink heavily over hours and order food or parents who need to moderately drink and can’t stay for hours, and also order children’s meals. If there’s enough child free punters, I imagine it’s no loss to the pub. Individual landlords will hopefully know their market.

Our local only allows children in specified areas, this works well, families can still come in and enjoy the place but those who want a child free drink are also happy.

It has been this way since at least the eighties but they have slightly changed the areas.

It used to be children in the conservatory or outdoors. Now there's additional outdoor and covered outdoor seating, plus children are allowed in the lounge. The bar and snug remain child free.

Doesn't harm trade, they are incredibly busy, despite not having a TV or a garden or serving food after 2pm.

I'd leave it up to the individual business to decide.

I find the mandatory cut off at 9pm for under 18s a bit awkward in Ireland on holidays.

I’m not at all offended if a pub chooses to be adults only. Realistically though, looking at our local pub, they aren’t keeping the lights on because Colin and Bob come in every night to have two long pints and play darts.

What pays the bills are our family meal booking that’s £100 on a Friday evening. Or wakes and christenings for the village church opposite. Or function bookings, like my friends’ recent 50th birthday, which was fully catered and a cash bar for a 100 people, most of us with school age children. Or the monthly quiz night, which does attract some families with the kids disappearing for bedtime by 9pm or so.

Bob and Colin are regular fixtures propping up the bar, but they don’t spend much money. It’s the family bookings and community events that keep the pub open.

How much do you drink?

I agree, and I am a mother. There are plenty of places for kids, adult only places are great to have and change the vibe alot, and tbh unless it's a pub with a great playground in the beer garden as some of my locals have, I can't see why kids need to be in pubs that don't serve food anyway. It's a boring environment for kids, I've had to go far less since becoming a parent, gone are the days of chilling with friends in a beer garden in summer, I miss it 😅

I spent alot of time in Scotland and its totally normal for pubs not to have a license that allows kids in, even in touristy places like Edinburgh.

Why don’t you drink when with your children?

we go to lots of family pubs as they often have more atmosphere and nicer locations than restaurants. Some have lovely gardens too so a summer lunch and drink is nicer than a sticky pizza express!

I don’t drink loads but may have a beer or glass of wine with a meal.

Not sure it's a wise decision in the current economic climate, but I understand why they want to.

Instead, they should insist parents keep their dc in check, and ask them to leave if they don't, rather than a blanket ban on all children, as ours were always well behaved, simply because we would not tolerate them misbehaving, especially out in public. They would have been taken home, and missed out on the treat.
Our children knew the rules, if they wanted to eat out, they had to behave. It really is that simple. It's just a shame that nowadays, many parents want a quiet life, and so let their children do what they like, rather than reprimanding them or having to go home and missing out on a meal.

We went to many country pubs for meals when our dc were young, you just need to teach them how to behave.
When they were very young their attention span was less, so once they'd finished eating one of us would take them out to the play area to let off steam, whilst the other finished eating. If needed, we swap/tagteam it so we could both finish our meal, without other diners being disturbed by restless dc.

We didn't use ipads or phones or anything like that to keep them amused. At the most, we would have some colouring pencils and a little colouring book to do as they got slightly older and more able to cope, alongside an increased attention span.

They were not allowed to stand on the chairs or run around the restaurant/pub, and if they had tried, we would have told them off, and if they did it again, we would have left and taken them home.

It drives me mad nowadays how a lot of parents allow their children to just misbehave and run around whilst people are trying to eat.
Family friendly should not mean children running riot, but that takes effort, and many parents can't be bothered.

Children aren't allowed in pubs in New Zealand and in the 1980s some pubs in small towns didn't even let women in.

Now my kids have grown, I'd love a pub without children, even the well behaved ones. I've done my stint of small children and prefer to choose if I'm around ones that belong to other people.

I don't hate kids, far from it, I just think that there should be some spaces that are adult only, even during the day. There are loads of other places that welcome children, let those of us who like a quiet couple of drinks with a book or a group of friends who don't want to be filtered have some spaces too.

I don’t think this should be banning children from pubs but about respectful behaviour and managing what is and isn’t appropriate.

Children need to learn how to participate in society which includes going out to spaces to eat or drink. Nothing wrong with a family going out for a pub lunch or sitting in a beer garden playing cards.

What I wouldn’t expect to see is children in pubs past about 8pm, or parents taking children to adult restaurants.

Most people realise what is and isn’t appropriate without having to ban small humans.

It’s 10pm from May to September if that helps? 😊
9pm the rest of the year.

But why do you think your preferences ought to outweigh the venues own wishes about who they want to cater to? Because that's what it means when you say something 'should' be provided by private businesses that isn't currently.

I have really fond memories of being a child and going to the pub with my parents and their friends and their friends’ kids. Parents would have a couple of beers and we were expected to entertain ourselves. And we did because we knew if we didn’t we would be in big trouble.

Kids being attached to screens has a lot to answer for - if you aren’t modelling how to sit at the table at home, how can you expect them to know how to do it when they are out?

Too many people let their kids run riot, annoy everyone with their devices and it ruins it for everybody.

I actually do wish places would manage disruptive customers more - be that unruly children, loud/drunk idiots, people watching loud videos without headphones or whoever

i understand why staff, especially minimum wage staff, don’t want to risk it, but it doesn’t help that folks basically get away with anything unless it warrants calling the police.

The one pub here that still has a manager who has no fear of kicking people out, banning troublemakers and telling parents to control their kids is such a lovely place. But it’s really quite rare now.

I rarely frequent pubs.

But now I have kids. Omg this would be my pub era!!! Only problem is hardly any pubs actually cater for them here.

Where I grew up the pub play area was a huge thing. That was your weekend treat.

But now where are all the play areas!! Honestly for the past few years I have been thinking about a campaign to bring back the pub garden.

Luckily I don’t care. I spend my money on other things - the one time I went for a meal last year, some kids made it hellish

It should be entirely up to the landlord. That's it.

Either way, the poster you responded to wasn't wrong. It's actually hugely entitled and unreasonable for anyone to suggest there ought to be a 'balance' when it comes to livelihoods at stake and private businesses being able to make the commercial decisions they choose.

My husband has just taken our toddler to a pub that has a soft play room in the garden, now that’s a win!

and the Alma mentioned in the article is a wonderful pub, particularly if you’ve left your own children at home and don’t fancy hanging out with other people’s.