I ordered a couple of pints for me and my son in Sutton once, he was a minute behind me as he was at the cash machine.

When he walked in the server asked me his age, he was 20 at the time and I told her that. We can't serve him then. fair enough I said, and walked out with 2 lovely poured and unpaid for pints of stella on the counter.

Sheer madness.

But that bit in bold seems to be specifically for just going into a pub, not eating in a pub. Never had a problem with pub meals & cider with my son when he was 17.

“My experience of life is that it is not divided up into genres; it’s a horrifying, romantic, tragic, comical, science-fiction cowboy detective novel. You know, with a bit of pornography if you’re lucky."

Speaking as a pacifist, I would suggest smashing up their fruit machine with a sledge hammer

Lend me a Tenor

31 May to 3 June 2017

John McIntosh Arts Centre
London Oratory School
SW6 1RX

with Superfly in the chorus
[Link]

The world has changed - Pubs were serving me and my when I was 16, with or without adults or food.

"One Nation Under God, has turned into One Nation Under the Influence of One Drug"
[Link]

I got a note back from the Police Licensing team. I told them they are being scape-goated for the apparent hatred of young people I am observing from our local hostelries. It seems the Police weren't aware that all the pubs take it upon themselves to set a higher bar than the legal requirement and can't understand why they do. I will send this on to a couple of pubs and see what reaction I get.

''An interesting observation and one I am not sure how you overcome, you could carry a copy of the legislation with you and speak to the designated premises supervisor at the premises who is responsible for authorising all sales of alcohol. All designated premises supervisors are personal licence holders and have completed an exam in order to ascertain that they have a working knowledge of licensing legislation.
I can only surmise that if the premise is a chain they may have an internal policy that they may not serve drinks to anyone under 18, or there may be conditions on their premises licence which prohibit such sales depending on where you are.
In relation to blaming myself for not selling alcohol in accordance with legislation then this is quite baffling as surely they should only have concerns if they are breaking the law or breaching their licensing conditions. Unfortunately I cannot supply the details of any premises which does act within the legislation as they should all do so.
I can only recommend that you phone ahead and establish if they don’t have either an internal policy or a condition which prohibits this and record the details of who you speak to should they change their minds whilst you are at the restaurant or bar so as not to ruin your meal.''

As you may know, I quite enjoy a good battle. I want to shame the flaming pubs into doing what the law says. I don't want to find a work-around, would lose the moral high ground then.

And it's my daughter and all she wants is a pint of cider! Young people are our future, why do so many people have a downer on them.