When the landlord of The Kenton pub in Hackney, London, announced that he was banning children from the premises earlier this year, it sparked a huge online debate.
Some were supportive arguing that disruptive kids make a pub less inviting and chaos for staff, while others said that parents are punters too and have every right to be there with their offspring.
So, should children be banned from pubs? Rhiannon Picton-James and Poppy Jay offer their perspectives.
It’s a balmy Saturday evening. I’m in a beer garden, the smell of freshly cut grass hangs in the air and the second prosecco bucket has just landed on our table, which means one thing: we’re going out-out.
Then a shrill, piercing wail cuts across the garden. A toddler is mid-tantrum, the kind that suggests someone’s just set fire to all his toys and his parents have publicly declared their love for his baby brother. And in a flash the vibe shifts faster than you can say “cheers”.
This is probably the most apprehensive I’ve felt writing an article. The question of whether children should be allowed in pubs doesn’t just divide the internet, it divides friendship groups. It’s a fault line between parents and the child-free.
Jan Leeming, a former newsreader, set the internet alight after complaining about unruly children in a posh restaurant. And when London landlord Egil Yohanssen banned children from his Hackney pub, he quickly became a hate figure online.
My friends with kids will despise me for saying this, but I do think children should be banned from pubs… with caveats! It’s not children per se that are the problem, it’s the mayhem unleashed when unruly kids are paired with “gentle” parents who won’t step in.
Pubs are places where you drink, swear loudly, tell dirty jokes, overshare your sex life (or lack of one), play darts or pool badly, talk shite to strangers and put the world to rights. They are one of the great pillars of British culture, and for many of us, they keep us sane.
Now, some have become a mecca for middle-class parents to slowly get pissed while little Archie and Pandora run amok. Entire pubs turn into weekend crèches, and the rest of us avoid them altogether. What was once a place of refuge, and messy, spontaneous fun now at times feels like an extension of a domestic life you didn’t sign up for.
Children shouldn’t be roaming around pubs unsupervised like free-range chickens. Gently asking Timmy to stop crawling on all fours in front of the bar while staff are carrying trays of pints isn’t parenting, it’s an accident waiting to happen.
And that’s when parents actually step in, too often I just see any discipline and responsibility seemingly handed over to the bar and wait staff while they chat away and sink another glass. So, to set this right I propose these rules:
1. Some pubs should be completely child-free, not a small human in sight, ever.
2. Equally others should be proudly child-friendly (so we can give them a wide berth).
3. Those pubs should have designated children’s area with chalk, crayons and soft toys. Think containment, fewer collisions, fewer broken glasses.
4. If someone complains about your child, don’t get defensive. If you insist on staying, buy the table a round as goodwill payment for another two hours of screaming.
5. This debate is always parents versus the child-free. No one ever asks the staff. Bartenders, waitresses and landlords have stories. Follow their lead.
6. If your child accidentally gets hurt, that’s on you. This isn’t soft play, there are pint glasses and bad decisions being made everywhere.
7. Countryside pubs and pubs with massive gardens are exempt from all of the above. There is space to let the kids run free.
For new and single parents especially, pubs can be a safe haven, a sense of community, a way to feel connected to the outside world again, and a place to decompress and see a friend you haven’t seen in months. Crucially, they offer a middle ground where child-free mates can meet parent-mates, I understand that.
And, of course, one person’s shrill wail is another’s coo, but when that wail takes over an entire pub, it stops being a shared space. And that’s not fair on those of us who want to enjoy the pub child-free.
Perspectives
square Opinion Should children be banned from pubs? Poppy JayMiddle-class parents have ruined the Great British pub
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