Because if the place gets busy, my bartender may not know that Mr. 19 year old isn’t of age. They will know that Mr. 4 year old isn’t. Also, if the place does start to get busy, that’s time that the 4 year old needs to start getting ready to leave as well.
At a lot of the neighborhood bars I’ve been to, there is usually a regular or two who can help out behind the bar if it starts to get busy at an unusual time of day. They may not know that the 19 year old was only allowed in to play pool.
I’ve been in some pretty busy places, and they had no problem checking ID.
My dad, after a long day of delivering packages a la UPS, would head to The Grog Shoppe, a Bar / Liquor Store in Trenton, NJ. I’d be with him often in the summer, and went to the bar with him. I’d have root beer, fries with brown gravy, and slim jims while he’d have a few and shoot the shit with his friends. I’m not a bar guy by any stretch, and I see little harm in my childhood experiences.
George
Well behaved and supervised? Sure, who gives a care. If it’s an early hour I’d probably be hanging out with a guy and his kid (which I’ve done and can be extraordinarily fun) because they’ll be the only other people there. If you aren’t getting shit-faced then it’s all in good fun. Kids who understand pool are very fun to hang around.
I live in Madison, since the idiots who live here decided to ban smoking in bars, kids don’t have to worry about it. Anyways, I think supervised kids should be allowed to go to bars with their parents. I don’t see where there would be a problem with that.
I went to alot of bars that had bands between the ages of 14 and 20, and I remember getting shooed from the bar area (the place behind which the bartender stands) numerous times for being under age. They always told me it was illegal for a minor to be sitting at a bar. shrug
I think we might be missing the point of the story here, tho. Looks like all of us have been to the bar as kids. With a responsible parent. And alot of responsible parents say they’ve taken their kids to bars. What we don’t know is:
- What time of day was it?
- Did the bar serve food (ie was mom there for dinner)?
- What was the rest of the crowd like?
When it comes down to it, the bartender is acting as an agent of the owner, and the owner has the right to deny service and ask to leave anyone he/she/it sees fit. The story says that the lady was asked to leave, because of the baby, and she turned into a baby herself and wouldn’t leave and “started stealing drinks.” Obviously this lady isn’t like all the responsible parents described in this thread.
Heh … last time I took my dad to a bar, HE embarassed ME 
Here are my suggestions according to the questions.
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From open until the bar gets busy. An exception might be made for 12:00 noon busy football games.
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Most of my regular bars don’t serve food. I can certainly see a case for a brewpub type place which serves food and makes money on it.
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Usually the kids that are in the bar are kids of regulars. If the rest of the crowd is regulars, that makes it easier. The bartender needs to also make sure that the parent doesn’t get intoxicated either. A lot of the sports bars I frequent are VERY focused on sports around the tvs. I become a regular so I can request less popular games on one of the televisions. This tends to be the reason for a lot of the other regulars. They go in the bar knowing they can ask for a truck race to be put on one of the tvs or an out of market ball game. Therefore, unless there is absolutely NOTHING else on, no tv can be turned to Nick or the Disney channel. However, if the kid is a young dalej42, they are welcome to watch my game with me.
Ask my 7 year old what his favorite place to eat out is and he will reply, “The Pub, where else?” We’ve been taking him to the local British pub for years. Sometimes we see another kid or two there. Last year he met a little girl his age at the pub and they sat at the bar together and talked and it was so cute. I would have given anything to have a picture of my (then) 6 yo chatting up his first girl at a bar!
FWIW, we are generally out of there before the afterwork (4:30-5) crowd, if we go during the week, or by 6:60-7pm on the weekend. Mostly we go on Sunday afternoon, after church.
Or the 19 year old may cage a drink or two off of a friend who’s of age. I think that’s how Drew Barrymore got started drinking at such a young age-her mother would take her around to all the Hollywood hotspots and clubs and she’d sneak all the unattended drinks when no one was looking.
As far as young kids around pool tables, one thing that worries me is young toddlers unattended. I remember playing pool at a local restaurant when I was in high school (this had a kiddie arcade section, and then the pool tables were downstairs), and this older woman was sitting down there, watching everyone play pool while her granddaughter just wandered around. She came near to getting knocked in the head with the cues a few times. It was very annoying.
19 year olds drinking alcohol? Good god! Next thing you know, we’ll turn into a bunch of savages, like the British!
:rolleyes:
Like it or not, the drinking age in the US is 21. While it may not be that much of a difference, a lot of the rules are pretty harsh and I’d hate to see some bar owner lose his or her liquor license because someone not of age was caught drinking there.