Some pubs not family friendly

I am a parent and I have also worked in pubs. My son NEVER went to the pub unless it was a family/friend party in the function room. My son is well behaved but I believe a pub is the only respite from kids that any adult can get. I have seen parents come in the pub and let their kids run around while they get drunk...it's free babysitting for the parents. Try collecting glasses in or carrying a couple of pints with these 'little angels' running about. If you even DARE to tell the parents to keep an eye on their kids you are subjected to ignorance or abuse from them. Kids should be banned from pubs. Full Stop. They are a liability, noisy and a complete pain in the backside.

Is that wetherspoons policy? does it say that kids get asked to to leave after a few drinks? if it does,can you complain,if it does not,moan & keep your kids there,,,,

I recently visited a weatherspoons pub in dunstable which has a big green and park next to it to meet my friends to celebrate my birthday, its school holidays so have to take our children, none of them are toddlers and were playing football on green next to it. When going into the pub to get all our drinks we was asked if we was eating? some of us were and some wasnt, we was then told they have a new rule that children are allowed to be in there if we eat but after an hour of finishing our food we have to leave!!! what the hell is all that about. Anyway the kids were playing (not inside the pub) we was sitting outside and 2 of us was not drinking, there was only 4 of us anyway, when I went in to get my 3rd glass of wine and lemonade I was told no more alchol, we had been constantly watched, my friend got followed to the toilet for some reason I sopose incase she had a sneaky bottle in her bag or something.They constantly came out to sweep around us and collect glasses near us, not from our table as there wasnt any on it!!! we was then asked to leave, my friend said that she was discusted to the way we had been treated and did the man have children himself he to which replied no I havent but if I bought my nieces and nephews to the pub I wouldnt dump them in the park!!!!!!! omg how rude is that pub in dunstable, all they want in there is old men and piss heads who spend all there giros, I can safely say they will not get my business again which they are probably pleased about cause they dont welcome children so in my opinion DONT HAVE A BLOODY KIDS MENU!!!!!!! I just have to add I bet if our husbands were all there we would of not been spoken to like a lump of sh..t off someones shoe I bet. just incase any of u mums are wondering its the GARY COOPER IN DUNSTABLE.

sorry ellmiami, But kids that age belong at MCDONALDS. not in a bar or pub. KIDS are an accident waiting to happen, I VE SEEN IT BEFORE. the mother goes crazy on the poor waiter because he dropped a tray on her kid, the kid was playing on the floor and the waiter tripped.
pay attention parents puleeze. your kids dont belong on the floor playing.

Totally agree with most comments here. Bars/Pubs/Clubs whichever, drinking environments are not for under 18's period. Why encourage children to drink by taking them into such environments. Should you feel it is necessary then atleast have kids out by 6pm.

hi, I run a pub and am quite interested in this discussion as this issue is one that I encounter every day. We welcome families into our pub, but ask that they are not in the bar area or at the bar itself. children are allowed in, as long as they are supervised at all times. We have a duty of care to children whilst they are on the premises, and if they are in the family room we know that they are not exposed to sometimes innopropriate adult behaviour ( eg swearing etc). Although seems to suit a lot of people, I always get someone who is not happy with this, and will continually send their children up to the bar. This causes trouble as staff will not serve them, and then parents get irrate with the bar staff. However, I feel that by providing a family room, adults who want to come in and enjoy a few drinks at the bar can do so without having to watch their conversation or language. A pub is also primarily an adult envirinment, and that should be repected. Bringing children into pubs is up to the individual pub, and if they say that they cannot come in then that is up to them, and they will probably have a very good reason for doing so. I urge everyone who wants to bring children into pubs to check what the rules are, and dont shout at the bar staff, they are just doing what they have been paid to do!

justbeen2castleInTheAirGTR.MAN

How could you not realise that Wetherspoons is a pub?

Just been to wetherspoons and was told that because we had our children with us that they couldnt sell food to us as we would not be out by 9pm. We felt really annoyed and embarressed as we had not even realised that it was a pub. I would like to know why the law of this does not stipulate that it should be written in big bold letters on their big bold placard advertising their fantastic kids meal. KIDS OUT BY 9PM or NO KIDS ALLOWED AFTER EIGHT or KIDS GET LOST would be a good idea just so that us parents, who don't want to be around kid hating drunkards, would know that we are in the wrong situation. OR MAYBE THEY ONLY WANT OUR CUSTOM WHEN IT SUITS THEM. Anyway once you have fought your way through fag smoke to enter its enough to put you off eating anyway and soon realise that you are in a lower class area anyway......GOOD LUCK WETHERSPOONS FOR FUTURE SUCCESS!

A family unfriendly bar, brilliant where is it? Nothing worse than going to a pub and finding feral fat kids running loose and their equally feral fat parents guzzling beer and farting at the bar, blocking your path.

A bar is for adults, not chidren. The same goes for these bars/cafe's that serve hot food. Picture the senario, a member of staff is walking with a bowl of soup and trips on a kid crawling about on the floor and spills the hot contents all over him. Guess what's going to happen now! the parent will go ballistic and blame it all on the waiter. Kids are a hazard in a bar and resturant and families should just be discouraged from bringing them along. If they really want to have an outing, I cna suggest McDonalds or Burger King.

I don't think it was responsible of you to take your son into a pub so you could drink in his presence, whether a meal was included or not. I think the bar staff kenned to this and were taken aback by it. If you wanted to celebrate with your friend by drinking, the more responsible action would have been for you to have made arrangements to leave your son with someone sober while you celebrated with your friend.

It's a difficult one.

For those of us who don't have children, and don't particularly wish to have to be surrounded by them whenever we leave the confines of our own homes, the advent of 'family friendliness' in pubs is an unwelcome development. Surely to God there must still be the odd place where adults can gather together without children present.

But we do have family friendly pubs, and at 13 your son is entitled to sit in one and drink a soft drink, and the way you were treated suggests a strange attitude to staff training and customer service.

Of course if no-one was allowed into a pub unless they could prove they were 25, the situation would never have arisen.