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Original poster

*Pushchair ban* in *Roundhay park cafe* [angry]

48 replies

catherine30 · 18/02/2009 10:11

Hello

The pushchair ban in roundhay park means that anyone with a sleeping child/a child too young to sit in a highchair or more than one child under 3 effectively can't use the facility. The manager is very unapolgetic in his decision because effectively mothers with young children are not his target customer - apparently we spend the least and stay the longest!!

Given they have the monopoly on food and drinks - with seating - in the park I for one am very annoyed at the short term view of said manager. Surely in a few years I might be in the target customer category!? I certainly won't forget the uncompromising approach he is currently taking!

What do other mums think?

OP posts:
Original poster
catherine30 · 18/02/2009 10:15

Just to clarify - basically pushchairs are 'banned' from the cafe between 11:30 and 2:30 each day

OP posts:
wingandprayer · 18/02/2009 10:17

Phone the council who presumably give some sort of licence to the cafe owner for providing the food and drink services and see whether they are even allowed to do this. Roundhay was bequeathed to Leeds wasn't it and I dimly remember reading on a plaque somewhere that it has some sort of covenant on it for the enjoyment of all, and I assumes that means the cafe bit too? Then phone the local paper and tell them all about it as they might be interested if they can come up with sensastionlist headline. After all, if no kids allowed in cafe that means the only food and drink available to them is from the ice cream van. Hardly healthy in the obesity fixated times?

My brother lives right by Roundhay park so am taking an interest as we always go there with the kids when we go to see him!!!

compo · 18/02/2009 10:19

I'd go to thr local paper, that is deifnitely a story they'd be interested in

wingandprayer · 18/02/2009 10:20

By the way - it's a park - who are his "target customers" if it's not mums and kids during the daytime? OAPs? Ducks?!

belgo · 18/02/2009 10:20

presumably this is a space issue? Maybe too many pushchairs would be a fire escape hazard?

I take ds in a sling if I go to a small cafe.

sandcastles · 18/02/2009 10:21

Soundslike you need pushchair 'sit in' at the cafe!

ellingwoman · 18/02/2009 10:25

I think it's quite fair. It's probably only a ban at the busiest time (lunchtime) because of the H&S issue. Go for a morning coffee or afternoon tea instead!

I have to add - 'in my day' pushchairs were tiny so not really a problem. The hulking great things you see nowadays are not practical in crowded spaces. One or two in a small shop or cafe and it is quite awkward.

AliceTheCamelHasGotTheHump · 18/02/2009 10:29

But that cafe is huge! Since when has space been an issue?

wingandprayer · 18/02/2009 10:29

H&S is just a trite excuse and the one usually trotted out in this situation. Has anyone ever heard of a fire where people failed to escape because of pushchairs?

ellingwoman · 18/02/2009 10:31

Isn't it more the blocking of gangways where hot food and drink are being carried?

DivamakesKimchi · 18/02/2009 10:32

we had pushchair ban in local italian bistro cafe, was on the papers. although mums complained, the cafe owners claimed they dont allow pushchairs.
i think, what manager said is not best management.

Feenie · 18/02/2009 10:32

I reckon the Yorkshire Evening Post would be on that like a shot!

wingandprayer · 18/02/2009 10:35

Alice is right - the place is really big so there should be ample room to get food to and from customers safely. By all means have some organisation so that pushchairs are tucked in and folded up where possible but to ban altogether them shows a lack of imagination and proper risk assesment by the owners.

Original poster
catherine30 · 18/02/2009 21:26

I agree about the H&S issue but a total ban is unreasonable - if there had been some consultation I am sure that a compromise could be reached. Perhaps if customers were asked where possible to leave the pushchairs at the entrance etc then it would also those who really don't have a 'choice' (i.e. sleeping child or multiple children) would take in the pushchair and there would be plenty of room for all. The councillors don't think there is any clause in the lease that prevents the management from imposing the ban. Will see if we get anywhere with the YEP.

OP posts:
branflake81 · 20/02/2009 15:12

you could just chain the buggy up outside and just go in with the DCs? I don't think it's a completely unreasonable request. He is not banning children.

ramonaquimby · 24/02/2009 14:50

I hate tripping up over buggies in cafes and restaurants etc . Always fold it down or leave outside if i can.

flubdub · 24/02/2009 16:00

lol @ ducks.
Maybe a few geese every now and then? Is he saving the best seats for the swans?

hifi · 24/02/2009 16:05

its very annoying when you have to negotiate past buggies AND high chairs. i think it would be fairer to fold them or leave them outside.

MadBadandDangerousToKnow · 24/02/2009 16:12

The cafe in our local park has the same policy - it is very cramped and there isn't room to move between tables if there are lots of buggies in the aisles (which there would be, as the park is Baby and Toddler Central) - but there is an exception for babies who are asleep in their buggies. Otherwise, buggies have to go in the buggy park outside the front door. That seems like a reasonable compromise to me.

BoffinMum · 24/02/2009 16:25

I am thinking this breaks the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act, because if there was a slightly older disabled child in a McLaren adapted pushchair, they would be effectively denied access to the facility. So take 'em on!

OrmIrian · 24/02/2009 16:30

Well I may be biased since I'm past buggy stage (atlthough I always thought the same) but I find them a total PITA in some places. They are so bloody big these day! And they do take up so much space. Your 'sleeping children' argument would make more sense if no-one ever took a buggy into a confined space without a child in it. IME that isn't the case.

I can see it's a nuisance. But it is from the POV of non-buggy users too.

NorthernLurker · 24/02/2009 16:35

Banning pushchairs is effectively banning children from that facility. Whilst I can understand why city centre restaurants etc are reluctant to be full of parents and offspring at lunchtime when they could be selling boozy lunches to the workers, I fail to see how this applies to a PARK cafe - parks are full of parents and little ones aren't they? Roundhay must be a strange place if the owner thinks he can make big bucks from the hordes attending a park - in winter- without a pushchair

MerlinsBeard · 24/02/2009 16:56

She can't go to the papers, it sounds like she is the papers

MadBadandDangerousToKnow · 24/02/2009 17:22

BoffinMum - the DDA argument is a tricky one, I think, in that (to play devil's advocate here) a visually-impaired person could equally well argue that having buggies between the tables prevented them using the cafe safely and therefore buggies should be excluded. And, except for children with mobility problems, it's far from clear that being a child who is too young to walk is a disability within the meaning of the Act.

It still seems to me that - as long as children who are asleep (or have mobility problems) are allowed in still in their buggies - it isn't unreasonable to suggest that all other buggies should be folded and/or left outside. It is quite a stretch (I think) to say that banning buggies equates to banning children; after all, many pre-schoolers are long out of buggies and even those who still use buggies aren't welded to them.

OrmIrian · 24/02/2009 17:30

Good point madbad. Most DC don't actually use pushchairs.