Will be staying in London overnight in March and wanted to clarify the pub guidelines for our daughters (12 & 15) to accompany us when we visit some local pubs after dinner. Specifically, would this be frowned upon, or is it even allowed.

Thanks.

before dinner, yes.
after dinner, no.
dinner in a pub, yes.

asking smokers to stop because of kids, no.

Do you take your Children to bars in the USA??

No, I do not take my children to bars in the states, but do take them to Brew-Pubs and Micro-Brewerys for eating and have travelled enough to understand that in Europe, each country has its own protocal.

No, for sure - some (but not all by any means) pubs will let them eat dinner inside. Now if the pub has a garden or tables outside - that would be different. But it won't be warm in March and you probably won't want to sit outside at night.

There are so many hundreds of places you would all be welcome why would you want to take them to a pub at night?

I can't remember children being in any pub/bar and we were in 7 countries, Except for restaurants.

I saw people of all ages in London pubs when we were there over Christmas/New Years. Some will be more welcoming of younger folks. Here's a page that may help:
http://www.pubs.com/children.htm

The situation will be very dependant on the pub - many pubs have family areas - my local for example regularly has children there in the evenings, whereas some pubs bar anyone under 18 or even 21. Children will not be welcome near the bar area in any pub.

When we go to a pub with our boys we always send an adult to the bar and ask if it is ok for them to be inside and where we should sit. As Walter Walltotti stated all pubs are different, many are quite friendly towards kids (and your older daughter will be allowed everywhere). My guess is if you are polite and the girls are too you won't have much trouble.

The whole idea that children being in an establishment that serves alcohol is wrong is a North American hangup.
Go to the pub, have a meal, enjoy the atmosphere WITH your kids.
Just remember, each establishment in England can make its own rules and be sure to ask if it's OK.

Hi Mc,

Are you going pub crawling with your kids or do you just want to stay in a pub after you eat?

OK - mckinleythompson - you need to clarify what you mean. I understood "when we visit some local pubs after dinner" that you meant going into a pub for drinks after eating elsewhere.

Dinner is one thing - some will - some won't allow kids in for dinner. But just coming in at night when the folks are drinking is a whole different matter

I have taken my boys to Britain when they were 12 & 9. I like pub food & after their experiences with it, my kids like it also. For us it was exactly as Walter stated. If there was a family room, the kids were welcome to dine, but not allowed at the bar. My kids have been in a pub to eat at a number of places - Windsor, Caerphilly, Gypsy Moth pub in Greenwich. In those places, my kids were not the only kids eating. At Ye Olde Jeruselum (sp?) in Nottingham, it was a small bar, no family room, & wouldn't allow the kids in, but they had a patio dining area outside & were more than happy to serve us out there. I went into the bar to place the orders & they gladly brought out the prepared food to us on the patio. One of our favorite places to go is the Sherlock Holmes Pub/restaurant. The restaurant is located above the pub & you have to walk through the pub to get to the stairs. Just had the kids walk directly to the stairs, without stopping, & there was no problem for them going through the pub.

We were in London at Christmas time and several times we tried to have lunch at a pub with our children only to be told we couldn't. Regulations say that the children can only come in if the pub has a separate designated area away from the bar. If the pub didn't have such an area we were politely told, sorry we can't let you in. Obviously some pubs will have separate areas and others won't. At least two of the one we went to did have a separate area but hadn't bothered to open it up as there wasn't sufficient trade and the ones that did have somewhere to take the kids were so smoky we decided to give it a miss anyway. So, all in all, I can't imagine they will let you bring them in when you have an after dinner drink.

I have just posted a reply to your Canal St. Martin query. I hope you have as good time on your trips with the kids as we did with ours. You are obviously doing quite a few of the same things we did. There is an old post here which I think is titled "Never Again" in which everyone was saying taking their teenagers to Europe was the holiday from hell but we had a great experience.

establishments thats sole purpose is to sell alcohol/ale/beer are called pubs/bars/nightclubs/lounges/clubs and are for adults and you most know? why would you ask if it would be frowned
upon? Would you take you children to your local bar and knock back a few with your bros after dinner? even if the owner of the pub/bar says its ok? You are a parent and as such, I would think you would want to act more responsible then to take your kids with when you go drinking even if you ARE on vacation. Maybe I'm wrong?

Part of the cultural heritage of London and indeed the U.K is that of the public house, a social centre for many, and of all ages (legally 18, or younger if accompanied by parents) and I would be disapointed if when on a vacation in any part of Britain I didn't get to visit a 16th or 17th century inn to have a meal and a drink, children or no children with me.
It is part of soaking up the atmosphere of a visit to London. Is Jeff thinking that mckinleythompson is intending to get blind drunk in front of the rest of the family? Of course not, a visitor to London would, in most cases, do Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, traditional meal in an old pub, visit an art gallery,boat ride on the Thames, trip to St Pauls for a quick prayer thanking God we shipped the Puritans to the American Colonies centuries ago and that taking teenage daughters to pubs wasn't seen as a great sin!

As has been pointed out, there are pubs and then there are pubs.

There are pubs patronized mostly by drunken men, there are pubs where everybody in a rural community (including families) hangs out, there are traditional music pubs ranging from the tame and friendly to the raucous, there are pubs that serve excellent meals to upscale professionals, there are even quiet pubs where you can sit and read the newspaper.

But why let a lack of knowledge of pubs stop you from damning them all?

Ok I was wrong! In england a pub is a place where you take the wife and kids and have a drink? It is a normal establishment that families go to after dinner to meet friends and knock a couple of pints back while visiting a traditional 16th or 17th century innwith your 12 and 15 year old daughters! I am no Puritan but, I do thank you for shipping my fore fathers off to the "Americas" because where would the world be if it was left up to you???

Do you take your daughters to porn shops
if the owner says its ok?

Jeff4you-Do you think you can give these idiotic posts of yours a rest please? You don't have any idea what you're talking about here, so shut up until you do!