The pub allows children into the building until 8pm. They are also only allowed in the pub if everyone in their party is having a sit down meal, just to discourage bad parents coming in and drinking themselves stupid in front of their children. Although the 8pm limit works just fine during weekdays, I feel that the cut off point should be earlier during the weekend. This story is the prime example why.
Saturday night is the busiest night for the pub. It can get very, very crazy. It can get to the point where every single table and chair is occupied, the bar is four people deep with customers waiting to be served, as well as large groups of people who have been unable to find a table standing around. The time that this starts to happen is usually around 6pm, two hours before the official kicking out time for children.
So picture the scene I just described. Very busy and very loud. And then the family enters. Mother, father and three children, all of which are under ten. One is still in a pram and one is being carried by the dad, while the oldest runs on ahead to look for a table. They look like the perfect middle class family with little Billy, Jimmy and Susie (names obviously made up).
Any sane parent would have turned around and walked out. There is a family themed restaurant not ten minutes walk from the pub. But no. The best place for this family to sit is inbetween a stag and hen party, the loudest and most foul people in the building.
The dad goes up to the bar to order, but feels that it is appropriate to take the two smallest children up with him. Up to the massive crowd of people pushing and elbowing each other to get to the bar. It was a miracle that one of them wasn’t stomped on.
CW serves the dad.
D: Don’t you think it’s a little loud in here???
It is loud, but not from music or TV. It is loud due to the masses of people talking and laughing. CW can’t think of an appropriate response to such a stupid question, so decides to ignore it. What was he to do? Go around shhing people?
Dad has placed little Susie on to the bar top. The bar top that hasn’t been wiped in a few minutes and is therefore covered in spillages.
D: You’ve ruined her dress!!!!
No. You ruined her dress when you chose to place her on a strange surface that is clearly not suited for children. CW does a fake apology and completes the order.
A customer accidentally drops and smashes their glass just near to where little Billy was crawling around. Because it’s appropriate to have a two year old crawling around the bar area on a Saturday night.
D: If he cuts himself, you will be hearing from my solicitor!
He returns to the table. The stag and hen parties have merged together and it is turning into a borderline orgy next to their table. There are also large groups of students downing shooters and cheering at the top of their voices about five feet away from them.
I wanted to go over and recommend that they leave. But what was I to do? They were within the correct hours, so technically hadn’t done anything wrong.
They ate their meals looking uncomfortable and terrified. The younger children were not even bothering to touch their meals, as they were too interested/scared at what was going on around them. The pub was getting busier. The crowds were growing larger. No other families were to be seen. Everyone else’s sole purpose in the pub was to get as drunk as possible because it was the weekend. People were loud, people were singing and people were swearing.
Dad appeared at the end of the bar.
D: I need to speak to the manager! This place isn’t family friendly at all!
Dad goes on a full rant about how his dining experience has been ruined by drunk people. How little Jimmy, Billy and Susie were now going to be scarred for life because they were so frightened. How dare people go to a pub and drink on a Saturday night?? He should have taken control and threw all the offending people out (99.9% of the customers) so they could have had a nice, quiet family meal.
Manager could do nothing but apologise. He wanted to rant back at the dad about common sense, and that maybe, just maybe, the busiest pub in town on a Saturday night wasn’t the best choice for a quiet family meal. But he couldn’t, as he was within the correct policy.
That policy seriously needs reviewing. Just because you can take your children to the pub on a Saturday night, doesn’t mean you should. And you should certainly not expect the whole world to change to meet your needs.
Saturday night is the busiest night for the pub. It can get very, very crazy. It can get to the point where every single table and chair is occupied, the bar is four people deep with customers waiting to be served, as well as large groups of people who have been unable to find a table standing around. The time that this starts to happen is usually around 6pm, two hours before the official kicking out time for children.
So picture the scene I just described. Very busy and very loud. And then the family enters. Mother, father and three children, all of which are under ten. One is still in a pram and one is being carried by the dad, while the oldest runs on ahead to look for a table. They look like the perfect middle class family with little Billy, Jimmy and Susie (names obviously made up).
Any sane parent would have turned around and walked out. There is a family themed restaurant not ten minutes walk from the pub. But no. The best place for this family to sit is inbetween a stag and hen party, the loudest and most foul people in the building.
The dad goes up to the bar to order, but feels that it is appropriate to take the two smallest children up with him. Up to the massive crowd of people pushing and elbowing each other to get to the bar. It was a miracle that one of them wasn’t stomped on.
CW serves the dad.
D: Don’t you think it’s a little loud in here???
It is loud, but not from music or TV. It is loud due to the masses of people talking and laughing. CW can’t think of an appropriate response to such a stupid question, so decides to ignore it. What was he to do? Go around shhing people?
Dad has placed little Susie on to the bar top. The bar top that hasn’t been wiped in a few minutes and is therefore covered in spillages.
D: You’ve ruined her dress!!!!
No. You ruined her dress when you chose to place her on a strange surface that is clearly not suited for children. CW does a fake apology and completes the order.
A customer accidentally drops and smashes their glass just near to where little Billy was crawling around. Because it’s appropriate to have a two year old crawling around the bar area on a Saturday night.
D: If he cuts himself, you will be hearing from my solicitor!
He returns to the table. The stag and hen parties have merged together and it is turning into a borderline orgy next to their table. There are also large groups of students downing shooters and cheering at the top of their voices about five feet away from them.
I wanted to go over and recommend that they leave. But what was I to do? They were within the correct hours, so technically hadn’t done anything wrong.
They ate their meals looking uncomfortable and terrified. The younger children were not even bothering to touch their meals, as they were too interested/scared at what was going on around them. The pub was getting busier. The crowds were growing larger. No other families were to be seen. Everyone else’s sole purpose in the pub was to get as drunk as possible because it was the weekend. People were loud, people were singing and people were swearing.
Dad appeared at the end of the bar.
D: I need to speak to the manager! This place isn’t family friendly at all!
Dad goes on a full rant about how his dining experience has been ruined by drunk people. How little Jimmy, Billy and Susie were now going to be scarred for life because they were so frightened. How dare people go to a pub and drink on a Saturday night?? He should have taken control and threw all the offending people out (99.9% of the customers) so they could have had a nice, quiet family meal.
Manager could do nothing but apologise. He wanted to rant back at the dad about common sense, and that maybe, just maybe, the busiest pub in town on a Saturday night wasn’t the best choice for a quiet family meal. But he couldn’t, as he was within the correct policy.
That policy seriously needs reviewing. Just because you can take your children to the pub on a Saturday night, doesn’t mean you should. And you should certainly not expect the whole world to change to meet your needs.
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