[quote=Ian]
Sorry Rob, I stand by my last post.
And forget the huggs, I might go soft (heaven forbid)

I DO NOT WANT CHILDREN IN A PUB.

I think following the smoking ban, it is unrealistic to not cater for children in pubs. More families will go, and with them bring another source of revenue. The Honor Oak has gone for this in a big way and is reaping the rewards. The Woodhouse are completely hypocritical saying they cannot allow children for insurance reasons. The main reason is that they want to continue to cater for incontinent adults alone. However I think they'll find out eventually that this is a shrinking market. They could easily provide for an adults only area plus a family area in that pub but they choose not to.

I still think its not kids per se that is the problem but their behaviour. French kids are always welcome in the best restaurants as they are taught how to behave from an early age. They can let off steam when they go back to the kiddy world, but restaurants are adult zones where good behaviour is expected, and from observation, this seems to work.

When we went on holiday in the summer to Dorset we took our child to all sorts of places and pubs - we had to in order to eat; the reception at some was frosty to say the least even though our baby was fast asleep and bothering no one. Mostly however she was well received even when crying. The remarkable thing was that we rarely saw other babies of her age ( then three months) out and about, which makes me wonder whether people of very young children hibernate for the first few months.