Barracuda slammed for time limits on family meals

The Barracuda Group has come under heavy fire for introducing a policy at one of its pubs that restricts families to just 45 minutes to eat their meals.

John Mead, licensee of the Tolgate pub in Dartford, Kent, has come up with the new rule - because he is sick of kids running riot and ruining other customers' peace and quiet.

But the decision has been slammed by a charity for families because it says it is treating parents with children unfairly.

Vicki Shotbolt, director of communications at the National Family and Parenting Institute, told The Publican: "This is a classic example of a very unfamily-friendly practice. It's not at all what we would like to see and we'd hope that families would choose to go somewhere else."

But Barracuda - which owns nearly 200 pubs - has defended its decision. Spokeswoman Emma Currin said: "We have put this policy in place at this particular Barracuda outlet to ensure that all customers can enjoy their meals. There have been problems with children running riot at this particular venue in the past.

"Our policy did used to be 30 minutes but we have now changed it to 45 minutes. But even after 45 minutes we're not going to throw people out if they are still eating their food. The forms are on all the tables so parents are aware of the policy before they order their meal."

Barracuda said it would consider expanding the policy to its other outlets if there was a need.

And it's not the only pub chain to employ such a policy. Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gerschon told The Publican that families were allowed to eat meals on the premises but were expected to leave soon after.

He said: "We are not a family-style pub but we will let families in if the adults and children are coming in for a meal. But the policy is that we will then ask them to leave approximately 20 minutes after finishing the meal. It's a condition of our licence that children are only allowed in if they are eating a meal. There's no facilities here for children so why would they want to stay any longer?"