Are mobile phones 'horrible for atmosphere' at pubs?

Michelle Abbott, the Anchor, Wingham, Kent

“I don’t like people being on their phones all the time so I make sure customers talk at the bar. They should engage with each other. Sometimes I make a joke out of everyone being on their phones to start a conversation.”​

Paul Egerton from the Jolly Sailor, St Albans, Hertfordshire

“I have no problem with it and we try to enhance it with giving them free Wi-Fi. I think you’re deluded if you think you can stop people using their phones. It is a sign of the modern times.”​

Emma Harvey from the Wheatsheaf Inn, No Mans Heath, Cheshire

“It is nice to have a ‘no phone Friday’ but I don’t think it would work here. We get people coming in just to use the internet but they do buy a pint too. I wouldn’t want to blank it out.”​

Gordon Reid from the Queens Arms in Corton Denham, Dorset

“Customers on their phones can be horrible for the atmosphere, but you can’t stop it because you would alienate people. We see it sometimes with couples, but that is the way it is and I wouldn’t block it.”​

Are mobile phones bad for a pub's atmosphere? We want to hear from you​​