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Original poster

'Adults Only' Pub Restaurants (not rude honest!!)

23 replies

Bomper · 22/04/2006 11:41

There is a pub near us which says only children over 14 and accompanied by adults may eat in the restaurnant, and if you do have kids you have to eat outside in the pub garden. My sister thinks it is awful, and refuses to go there with or without her dd out of principal, as she thinks it is tantamount (sp?) to saying 'Whites only' or 'Men only'!!

I myself think she is being a tad over the top, and manys the time in my child free days, I would have welcomed such a place!! What do you think?

OP posts:

charliecat · 22/04/2006 11:43

I think its fine in the summer but a pain in the arse in the winter
Not everyone wants to be surrounded by kids.
And there is loads of puns that will have kids.

Blandmum · 22/04/2006 11:46

I think that there should be room for child welcome and adult only establishments.

I love to take my kids out for meals out, they behave well and it is something that we enjoy as a family. If children don't eat with adults them they will never learn how to behave, how to wait politly for food etc. I also stongly feel that children should go to 'real' places and eat 'real' food, not just pizza and pasta and burgers.

However it is also nice, sometimes, to go to somewhere without the kids.

Should be room for both IMHO

marthamoo · 22/04/2006 11:46

I don't mind at all if they're up front about not welcoming children. We took ds2 in a pub in Manchester once (the Midland, in West Didsbury, in case you want to avoid it), got drinks, sat down and when they came to take our food order the bloke said very sniffily "oh we don't do a children's menu". I'd had a pint on an empty stomach and quite brazenly said, "righto..well we'll both have the roast dinner then and you can bring us an extra small plate and set of cutlery, please." Which he did - but with very bad grace. If there had been a sign on the door we wouldn't have gone in in the first place.

WharfRat · 22/04/2006 12:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

alexsmum · 22/04/2006 12:06

i've got to say if dh and i ever do get a night out alone we like to go somewhere were there are no children allowed. We want a completely adult evening! As someone has said, i think there is room for both kinds of places.
We have a pub locally with a whacky warehouse attached and it's like hell on earth.I can't imagine why anyone without kids would ever go there!

LIZS · 22/04/2006 12:13

Don't have a problem with it tbh as long as it is made clear from the outset and it may also be a licencing issue. ds was thrown out of a pub (where we were meeting a group of friends for lunch) at about 3weeks old ! We all decamped elsewhere !

izzyrubi · 22/04/2006 12:26

It's a tough one... I can see their point and to be honest I don't mind, I understand that not everyone chooses to be around kids and it should be fine but then I think that everytime we want to go out we have to get on the phone to make sure that they accept children and it's really frustrating...

mancmum · 22/04/2006 13:03

marthamoo interested to know which pub that was don't know the midland -- was it the metropolitan? I go there loads and always find them really helpful with sorting out kids portions... and so they b**y should be the prices they charge!!

marthamoo · 23/04/2006 17:26

It is called the Metropolitan now, I think (showing my age - it was the Midland when I was a kid). On the corner of Lapwing Lane and Burton Road? This is going back a bit now - I think ds1 was about 3 and he's 9 now - they may have changed their policy and become more 'family friendly'. I hope so!

JoolsToo · 23/04/2006 17:33

I think it's fair enough. Some people don't like going to pubs where they play loud music or is full of students or whatever - I don't see the difference.

The thing is a lot of parents take their children to pubs and then let them run wherever they want (not all granted) which is usually not around their parents but everyone else! Great for the parents but not for the rest of the diners!

compo · 23/04/2006 18:15

but marthamoo - we go into loads of places that don't have children's menus but who are fine with children being there. Doesn't necessarily mean they aren't child friendly, maybe just that particualr member of staff? If all places that didn't have kids menus put signs saying 'no kids' that would seriously limit theplaces we could go to

rarrie · 23/04/2006 20:26

No I definitely want places that are no kids. It seems to me that absolutely everyone seems to claim that their little darlings are well behaved etc and would never mess around in a pub. Yet they do, and when I have got a rare and magical night off from my little blighter, I don't want the evening spoilt by someone else's little brat. And yes, as the previous poster said, they do seem to run around other people's tables and get on my nerves!

When I have DD, I take her to places where children are welcome - that's not to say it has to be a burger and chips place, there are lots of half way houses, like the beafeater which are happy for kids to attend, yet aren't slumming it too much. But when I am child free, I certainly want a child free night and will actively look out places where children are not welcome.

But then I always was a miserable bugger

eidsvold · 23/04/2006 23:03

we tend to take the dds out for lunch and on the very rare occasion we are able to go out then we tend to go for a late dinner. If we take the dds out for dinner we tend to go earlier. I think it is a little discriminatory - especially as it may be the only place some people can go to.

Generally our dds behave well and if they are getting annoying then we tend to take them home HOWEVER what does get up my nose it a) parents who could not care less what their children do and do let them run amok and B) people who can see we have two little ones and yet despite there being many empty tables choose to sit right near us tsking about the dds the whole time. Yes they can get a little grizzly - they are only 1 and 3 and sometimes despite asking that their meals come as soon as possible they have been made to wait an inordinate amount of time despite it not being busy.

I guess here in Aus it tends to be very child friendly no matter where you go - well the establishments tend to welcome them - maybe not some of the patrons.

Passionflower · 23/04/2006 23:47

Nope, a agree with your sister actually and won't patronise eateries where my children are not welcome at lunchtime. Dinner is different obviously.

We have taken the DD's to any number of restaurants and know that they will behave in a perfectly acceptable way or we will remove them. Saying no kids is tantamount to saying that the establishment doesn't expect you as a parent to have consideration for other diners and if they assume I will have no consideration then I have no desire to patronise them.

joelalie · 24/04/2006 13:53

I wouldn't go there either. I don't think your sister is OTT. How do children learn to behave properly if they are never allowed to go to 'adult' restaurants? Why should be only be allowed to take out children to places where the height of sophistication is chicken nuggets and chips and where the children are encouraged to be more interested in the play area than the food or the company.

If I'm out without the children I don't really care if other children are present - they aren't my responsibility so why would it bother me? If an adult gets drunk and behaves badly, disrupting the mood of the place, he/she would be asked to leave - the same should apply to children. Badly behaved kids should be asked to leave. And if children are behaving nicely why would anyone object? People who simply don't want to share a space with children have a problem IMO.

DominiConnor · 24/04/2006 15:11

I have no problem with stated and clear policies against kids, and indeed would prefer that this stuff is on their advertising.

That being said, was with the gang of two in the nearest restaurant to us, and for a couple of minutes 2.1 got a bit loud. Bread sorted this out, and we worked on him until he was quiet.

Were considering taking him out of the restaurant unil some precious woman came over and had a serious go at DW, informing her (amongst other things) that they were "out for quiet meal". Found my mind running on three tracks. My primary reflex was to apologise, since I was raised in England, but sadly that part of England was a council estate, not the leafy suburb we live in, so I had little choice but to insult this woman with considerable vigour, and in such a way that her husband was humilliated by not being in a position to do anything about it, and track 3 was working out how to be offensive enough to get him to throw the first punch. Alas, he spotted that and remained wedged in his seat, though he physically shuddered at the bit where I derided him for sending his wife over because he couldn't face me.

Apparently we're now notorious locally, has reached my barber who wanted the "full story".

Greensleeves · 24/04/2006 15:14

I'm with your sister. I won't elaborate on my feelings about "child-free" generally, because things will only get nasty again but IMO for one establishment to be operating an apartheid policy is just crap and I wouldn't take my family there. "Family areas" in pubs are gruesome enough, but to stipulate that children must be fed outside the building, like animals - no, no no!

expatinscotland · 24/04/2006 15:16

Up here in Scotland, it can be tricky to find a pub that will allow children at all. Even babies. Unless it's one of those big family style chains.

lazycow · 24/04/2006 16:03

I agree with your SIL but I agreed with her for the 40 years I did not have children so I haven't changed my opinion.

I have no problem with children anywhere but maybe that is my Italian background showing. Children are fine by me and actually since I now have my own, if one is misbehaving I just breathe a big sigh of relief that I am not having to deal with it so my evening if anything gets better. When I was childless a misbehaving child had to be REALLY bad to get my attention - I just never really noticed.

peaches27 · 24/04/2006 21:42

Well there is obviously a market for it, and I dont blame anyone who wants their precious night out undisturbed by kids. We go out for a meal to escape them dont we? (usually?) There are plenty of child friendly diners about and the people who want that will find one.

songsticks · 02/12/2023 05:16

I was wondering if there was a campaign to make pubs adult only again? or at least have adult only bars. It's bad enough you can't have a fag with your pint any more but I get that (although we used to have smoking and non smoking bars) but I would at least like to have a peaceful pint without kids screaming the bloody pub down! I had a pub meal the other night and just as the barman served us our sausage n mash this guy leads his kids to the bathroom to the sound of one shouting... Daddy I need a Poo! We both looked down at our meals and said.... Yeah...thanks for that !
So yeah... I totally agree that pubs should be adult only again !!
People with kids seem to think the world evolves around their little darlings with absolutely no consideration for others and pi##es me right off !

songsticks · 02/12/2023 05:22

expatinscotland · 24/04/2006 15:16

Up here in Scotland, it can be tricky to find a pub that will allow children at all. Even babies. Unless it's one of those big family style chains.

I think we need to move to Scotland then 🤗

MrTruckle · 07/12/2023 07:53

I think it’s ok to have both options. Unfortunately people who let their kids shriek and run riot, have spoilt it for the rest of us who have kids who generally behave and enjoy eating out.

I am not offended by the concept. We ‘accidentally’ stayed at an adults-only hotel in Italy this year (found out after booking) and can see the appeal!!

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