So These Kids Walk Into a Bar (and Barflies Start Griping)

A smoking ban and an increasing trend of serving food have made Britain's pubs more family-friendly, but many drinkers are far from thrilled about sharing their watering hole with rowdy kids, the Times of London reports. The editors of the Good Pub Guide say complaints have soared about "baby lager louts" running wild in pubs.

One major pub chain has adopted a two-drink rule for parents, to get them out the door before their kids start going nuts. The guide's editors say there doesn't seem to be an easy answer to the problem. "Can you imagine the retort when a publican asks a badly behaved family to quiet their children?" the editors write. "‘We’ve just spent over 50 quid here, do you want us to leave without paying?’”
(More pubs stories.)