Children in pubs
 

I spotted this article about the sign the frustrated landlady of a pub in Leighton Buzzard had put up. Must say I sympathised, as did most of the regulars and people who had commented online, apart from a few who had obviously had a sense of humour removal at some stage.

http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2014/10/...de=aol_2485673

So, children in pubs - what do you think? I'm not talking about the dining room/area (this pub doesnt do food anyway). I must say I'm in the "no kids in the bar" camp myself, and long for the old days when the little bleeders were left in the car with a bottle of pop and a packet of crisps. In any case, when did the law on banning under 14s (I think it was) from pubs change, or is it just one of those that is routinely ignored?

JB perhaps a better place ?

What along with Ebola?:ugh:

Pretty much depends on what kind of kids and what kind of pub. The way some young children behave these days I would not let them out of their cage never mind letting them in a pub.

I had a couple of pals over for a weekend of aviation related activities and we retired to the local pub for refreshments. I hadn't been in there for years as the last visit was like walking in to a teenage disco. This time there was a children's party going on and the ankle biters were running through the bar. Not a word from the parents who were quietly getting pissed. Never again. Children should be barred. It isn't that pubs are the only source of food or shelter, it is the parents who want to be there.

This is a very British thing. Pretty much everywhere else in the world it's quite normal for kids to go for a meal/drink with their families and any suggestion of banning them would be greeted with incomprehension. Coincidentally or not, they don't seem to endure the same problem that we do of swarms of puking, fighting, urinating teenagers when they do come of age.

I think if you go into a pub with a full on play area outside on any given weekend you'd be daft not to expect there to be kids there. The local of an evening should be a different matter.


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They introduced a 'Family Happy Hour' at lunchtime on Sunday when I was at RAF Wattisham.

Apart from a couple of patch-brats who were rounded up and returned to their breeders by one of the people-formerly-known-as-WRAFs (rather a....errmm...'substantial' woman), who had collared the little buggers as they were trying various room doors, the main problem was the behaviour of the parents. One of whom had brought her latest offspring with her and subsequently proceeded to change its nappy in the bar....:mad:

Our continental cousins seem to have the right idea - and aren't averse to giving their little cherubs a smart cuff about the swede, should they misbehave. So that they soon learn The Code of Behaviour in Public! Whereas in the UK, anyone doing that would soon have some interfering busybody reporting them to some 'agency' or other....:(

We really are a nation of miserable ba*****s.
Just returned from Greece where, like most European Countries, children are not treated like a virus.
Likewise, in the Middle east and Asia most social occasions are centred around the family.
Unfortunately, in this country, we adopt the 'seen and not heard' approach and so kids are sidelined. Not surprising then that a lot of them lack social skills and are indeed a a pain in the arse. Their parents were brought up the same way so it is a vicious circle. Add to that the fact that we treat alcohol like fuel and believe the quickest way to happinnesss is to have a full tank as soon as possible.
We reep what we sow.
HOWEVER.....Happy Hour is hallowed ground and no place for kids.

Partly agree, beagle. Surely personal example and visiting pubs as a family is a key part of learning that Code of Behaviour -rather than a total reliance on inflicting physical punishment. The fact is, in UK, kids are often either barred entirely or confined to a damp back room/car park/outside with the smokers. Perhaps this helps explain why this code isn't learned, and therefore the unpleasant results when they're a bit older.

When I joined the definite rule was: Mess members ONLY in "Happy Hour". No wives, no guests (unless serving personnel) and definitely no children! But those were the days when we lived under constant threat of nuclear war, most people lived on base and drinking and driving wasn't as frowned upon as it is now. :}

Well yes, ShotOne, I didn't wish to imply that a clip round the ear should be the sole control option. Example and explanation is certainly preferable.

The most impressive discipline I witnessed being applied to some child was when I was driving slowly past a group of traditional gypsy caravans in deepest, darkest Lincolnshire in 1969. One of the gypsy children suddenly darted out across the road and I came to a sudden halt. A rather large, huge in fact, gypsy woman picked it up by the scruff and gave it an almighty wallop on the backside - which I could almost feel inside the car. "Sorry, mister", she called, as I set off again. But I bet he didn't run across any more roads for a while!

Are Happy Hours or 'Twofers' still in vogue these days? The rules you describe, Roly, are exactly those I recall.

The problem with kids in Pubs is that the little buggers never shout! :suspect:

Friend of mine ran our local hostelry a few years back. The only kids he let in were offspring of regulars he knew. Reason being he knew his regulars could be relied upon to keep their off spring in check and they wouldn’t mind a quiet word in their ear if the devils got out of hand.
When staying at the RAF Club, we always take the kids to the Running Orse, where most people seem happy to see them. They tend these days to sip a lemonade and are happy playing with an electronic device ( turned off of course) and are hopefully no bother to other members. If they ever get too excited we would take our drinks to our room.

Oh to have been able to take our horrors to the local when they were young! They are now 45,43 and 41.


A story that typifies those unenlightened days - a ex-Herc mate of mine invited his Aussie in-laws over to Wiltshire for the christening of their baby son in 1977. Thinking it would be a good idea to take them to our local for a pub lunch (only chicken-in-the-basket in those days ), he rang up 'Happy Jim' the not so genial patron of The Old Inn in Minety and duly booked. He explained that he had the tame Aussies with him and would it be alright to bring cot and baby in. No children allowed in the pub was the answer. Alright says Ron, cancel my booking. I don't think he ever went there again - it was The Turnpike or Plough at Crudwell for our ex-Herc meetings from then on!


I am happy to see well-behaved brats in a pub but draw the line at them sitting at the bar, and if they hear industrial language ( we have a large farming community here! ) that's tough.

racedo You are quite right! I appear to have posted this both on here and in JB. Blame it on (not so) early onset dementia!

Many apologies - perhaps some kind mod will merge the two?

Mess functions
 

Hell, even us CCF cadets at age 12-14-16 allowed to be in airmens NAAFI bar on camp at Church Fenton lol

Though cannot remember if any special times if families of personnel allowed in / on certain mess functions?

Cheers

Roland, I remember when wives were not allowed in the mess to check the mail even.

At Lindholme one wife used to go to the Guardroom and telephone box to ring the mess and find out if her husband was there. Oddly he had always just left.

On Marlow High Street we have a pub which sports the notice:

'Under 25s Welcome if Dining'

Just one of the problems of being close to High Wycombe ;)

Ever been in a city-centre pub in Brum on a Saturday evening? :rolleyes: Excited, underdressed kids on Bacardi Breezers - but no parents. := I once had to navigate a friend to somewhere more salubrious by phone (The Joint Stock near St Philip's Cathedral, if ever anybody is in the same predicament). :)

Wells Cathedral School has an interesting idea. It hires a Bristol disco Saturday mid-day, soft drinks only, and runs a coach there and back. :D

If there's really a valid reason for barring kids, why should "Dining" (or not) change anything?

How would we feel about "No Servicemen Admitted"?

Well, you'd be lucky these days to see any RAF youngsters from RAF High Wycombe, apart from the occasional holding officer. Remember, there is a Multi-Activity Contract on site, so that sucks up almost all of the airmen and airwomen's jobs. I don't know how many airmen are still at Air Command (Strike Command in old money) these days; I doubt, very much doubt, that it reaches 3 figures.

The screaming child running around the pub isn't the problem, it is the piss poor parent letting it happen

I would guess that they wish to exclude 'lads' who are out to get ratarsed asap.

Ah, didn't mean to impugn the RAF at all. I was referring to town ;)

That IS the problem Nutloose! Parents these days seem to have little interest in controlling their kids and expect the rest of us to accept their behaviour!

The old saying that " children should be seen but not heard" said it all!

Maybe there is a case for family pubs and adult only boozers?:ok:

Ah.. New Labour social engineering. By now, weren't we all supposed to be embracing European cosmopolitan cafe cultured enlightenment, reading the Guardian, engaging in thoughtful and witty repartee, sipping latte until the small hours, picking at Spaghetti ("enjoy!"), commenting incisively on the latest exhibition at the latest people's art gallery and smiling self indulgently at our little mites reading up on their human rights? Dear god, how I long for a proper smoke filled pub.

And I have never smoked.

They are fine if you are starting them on real ales, but not that euro pi$$.

I have nothing against children being allowed in pubs, so long as they aren't running around, being loud and obnoxious and annoying everybody else who is trying to have a quiet drink. However, I don't particularly agree with children being allowed at the bar. I also believe that children should be out of the pub at a certain time, because the 'bigger children' can't handle their drink and the little children don't need to see the aftermath of that.

Approx ten years ago, India Knight, Sunday Times columnist, ranted about pubs and restaurants refusing to allow young children in certain pubs and bars for meals etc. She invited readers to write in so she could produce a blacklist to name and shame the landlords.
What she didn't bargain for was the number of people who wrote in asking for a copy of said blacklist so they could go and have a civilised Sunday lunchtime in a village pub/restaurant.

Food yes, bars no.
 

Public bar is no place for a child at all. Strictly over 18's only. Sunday lunches, daytime dining yes I would be all for it in a respectable place and in a designated dining area. Bars are no places for children due to what they may witness or hear or be involved in, and what kind of parent or adult would want their child in such an environment anyway? UK bars are generally in a decline anyway, lets face it as the supermarkets have cleaned up in off sales, but many bars are still a place for high intake high -volume, vertical binge drinking, and therefore fighting, swearing, drunkenness, drug exchanging, stolen goods swopping, shootings and stabbings are generally to be expected and witnessed at some time or other. Least they are around my way in most of the rougher places - its no place for a child. Keep them out!!

We are the only country in Europe with this sort of archaic attitude, and hey presto we are the only country in Europe that has such poorly behaved youngsters around our city centres, pissed out their heads.

Well who took them out like Italian or French kids are, educating them on how to behave, eat and drink whilst in public. There is a time and a place when kids aren't really to be there, but I personally try and take my young boys into as many bars and pubs as I can.

"What polite and considerate boys you have" I proudly hear, yes and it's because I've spent time setting a good example to them, and much of it is in public bars etc.

Funny to see someone born in '93 commenting on kids in pubs.
Typhoon93, you make me feel sooo old!


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Perhaps posters here are allowing their Chiante/Raki/Sangria-filled holidays to cloud their memories of European kids. In Italy the parents dote on their offspring and discipline is generally absent - many is the time that I've seen kids running riot in restaurants, just as their Anglo-Saxon cousins do.

c2000, after the unfortunate confluence of a 39 Sqn aircrew lunch which ran on into a "Families Happy Hour," a sign was introduced at the bar door for following "lunches." "Caution - elderly aircrew drinking!" This helped avoid any more problems with aspirational young wives and their darling offspring.

Vernon

Not ejector seat but DANGER - DANGER - DANGER - MOBILITY SCOOTER.

Mind you ... far greater irritants can be found in pubs these days :E

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/multim...ge_410432c.jpg

Image Credit : The Times

Farage pulls his thumb out. :eek:

BEagle,

Certainly on the flying station that I'm currently detached to. £2.10 for 3 pints of Yorkshires finest (half price), as I arrived at the bar at 17:00:01.

Seven of us in the bar total, of which 5 of us were visitors. Neither of the 2 residents being aircrew! Average age of the 7 of us must have been around 48 years old. I understand nowadays that the married guys go straight home post flying and the younger element retire to their Mess rooms to play death/murder/kill computer games, against each other on their I-thingies. :rolleyes:

Here in NZ the little burgers are everywhere and a complete nuisance. me I would ban them all. I would also love to find a child free holiday place so I can have my holiday in peace and quiet. Never had kids of my own so don't see why I should have to put up with others brats.

I saw the mythical notice about unattended children in real life the other day, and I laughed out loud. Funny thing - it seemed to work at that establishment.

Unattended children will be given a double espresso and a free puppy.