The Kenton Pub in Hackney has changed its policy to become a strictly over-18s only venue amid growing concerns around unsupervised children on site.
Operator Egil Johansen has been at the helm of the independent craft beer pub, which was finalist in the 2024 GBPA Best Beer Pub category, for the past 17 years.
He told The Morning Advertiser (The MA) the decision had not been taken lightly and came after months of careful consideration.
“This is not about children themselves. Children will always be children but the problem we have seen is children being unsupervised”, he continued.
Keeping children safe
“One of our licensing objectives as pubs is to prevent children from harm and by having unsupervised children in the pub, when parents have no idea where they are or no interest in telling them off, we run into a lot of problems.”
Johansen explained there had been a small number of minor accidents at the Kenton, despite clear signage politely asking parents and carers to supervise children, prompting what he described as the “drastic” but necessary step.
Since implementing the change, Johansen, who is a father himself, said feedback has been “overwhelmingly positive”, adding the first weekend of trading under the new policy was a success.
“We obviously had to turn away some families but we’ve also gained a lot of extra custom”, he told The MA.
“A lot of our regulars stayed away from the pub on a Saturday and Sunday afternoon because there was just too much noise and too many unsupervised children around…it is a safe haven for adults now."
Not everybody
Though Johansen acknowledged some families were disappointed, particularly those who had always behaved responsibly: “This is not everybody.
“A lot of parents are respectful when they come to pubs. They come prepared with crayons and card games and entertain the children, which is what you are supposed to do.”
Johansen added he had also been contacted by a lot of other operators asking for his advice since announcing the ban, many of whom he said were considering a similar move.
However, he stressed the approach would not suit every site: “We do not serve food, which is an important factor...we focus a lot on sports. So in that sense, we were not the sort of pub that catered for families in the first place.
“I think a lot of other wet-led pubs might be [considering] doing something [similar].”
Announcing the decision on social media on Friday 20 March, the pub thanked customers for their support and understanding.
