Quick, meal out tonight and restaurant being difficult.

[StarlightMcKenzie]

I didn't organise meal but we are a large group and table being set up in bar area. Manager on phone said no children allowed otherwise they lose their license, except if I can take a car seat and hide baby on bench behind table.

Anyway, I don't drive so need to arrive in teeny McClaren, which restaurant said no place for and then hung up!!!

Ds 3.5 and exclusively bf, no bottles.

It's okay really. I'm not in the mood for going to a pricey restaurant where the waitress hung up on me.

Get a taxi from the station? Get a babysitter and express some milk?

It's a 20min walk to the station, then a train, then a 20 minute walk from the station.

Can't be carrying a car seat up and down station stairs, - lugging buggy up and down them is quite enough on it's own.

Baby doesn't take bottles otherwise I could leave him with dh.

She was very rude and there's no reason for her to have done that to you but many pubs have licenses based on when children are/aren't allowed there so they couldn't make an exception. I think it's fairly dodgy they were willing to violate their license in the first place really.

Really annoying for you though, I hate it when something gets in the way of things you were looking forward to.

Was she really very rude? She'd already offered to break the terms of her licence, putting her job at risk to help you out. If you'd then said that was impossible or the like, she might have given up. Without the full details of the conversation we will never know.

Yes she was rude.

I wasn't insisting on anything. I was enquiring and she was wittering on, until I mentioned the breastfeeding then she hung up.

Tbf I can understand her reaction a bit, she doesnt want to fall foul of someone quoting bf laws at her and also doesn't want to piss her employers off by either losing business or allowing a child in the bar area. She shouldn't have hung up but she must have felt stuck between a rock and a hard place

I can understand you being upset.

I also totally get not being able to leave a young baby.

I'm in Scotland so laws may be different but up here there are definitely certain types of licence which mean not even babes in arms are permitted in premises or certain areas or premises. I agree with others that the breastfeeding legislation won't trump the terms of the licence

Hope you managed to have a good night in. It's just a shame your table was in the bar area isn't it.

that's a bummer, but i was there with youngest in a sling not so long ago and i fed her with no issues that i noticed? maybe one of those things that if you mention it, you get stupid gip?

sorry though

I thought it was pretty much universal that children under 14 are not allowed in bars/pubs after 9pm. I believe this is the law.

They're supposedly not allowed in an adult rated cinema film either but I see them in there lots. I guess I thought that if they were too young to witness anything the rules are protecting them from then that was okay!?

Cinemas seem to be allowed to have screeenings where babies under one are allowed in (presumably because they are too young to be affected by the content and will likely sleep or feed through the film)

Bars do not. sometimes you cant do everything you want when you have a baby.

I think the problem here is that they have set up a table in the bar area. Children (however small) are not allowed in bar areas, so if caught they may be fined and even lose their licence.

That said, there's no excuse for being rude, so I think I'd be trying to find somewhere else.

Cinemas have to get a special agreement on thier license to have baby-friendly screenings and allow parents to take babies into films rated above their age range.

Bonkers though that sounds.