‘I’ve banned kids from my pub – why should parents let them run riot unsupervised?’

A trendy pub in Hackney has banned children after facing serious issues with unruly kids and ‘entitled parents’.

Pub owner Egil Johansen told Metro he’s no longer allowing kids at the Kenton Arms, after previously restricting the hours children could visit.

Egil took over the Kenton Arms in 2009, which he says has always been a family-friendly pub, having previously served food until 2022.

He told Metro: ‘Due to rising energy costs, we decided to close our kitchen four years ago. Instead, we completely stopped serving food and subscribed to Sky Sports,

‘We always used to have a curfew for children at 7 p.m., which is part of our premises license. But when we stopped serving food four years ago, we reduced the curfew to 5 p.m.’

Hackney locals were surprised when Egil issued a statement this weekend, revealing that the Kenton would now cater to only those above the age of 18.

But the pub landlord told Metro the issue isn’t about children – but about parents.

‘Children will be children. I have a seven-year-old myself, and I know he needs to be entertained. If we go to a pub, we know he’ll last maybe an hour, two at most. So we come prepared—with crayons, paper, and card games,’ he said.

‘This is about the parents. When you go to a pub or café with a child, it’s your responsibility to make sure they’re sitting at the table and entertained. Otherwise, what’s the point of going to a pub if you just want to drink and let your children run riot unsupervised?’

The decision has been met with positive reaction, even with regular patrons who have attended the pub with their children in tow.

Egil told Metro that the issue became so much that children were in danger because their parents weren’t supervising them properly.

‘As a pub owner, one of our licensing objectives is to prevent children from harm. But we had parents letting their children run around.

‘People are carrying drinks in a pub, so there have been spillages. But one of the worst incidents was a child who ran down into the cellar and fell on top of a manager because the parents were sitting on the complete opposite side of the pub.’

Egil said the situation was lucky because nothing serious happened, but added that the child’s parents ‘had the nerve’ to blame the manager.

‘But the cellar hatch is behind the bar, so not only do we have children unsupervised, but we also face a lot of entitlement from parents,’ Egil added.

‘Another issue is when staff politely ask parents to supervise their children. But when staff approach parents, they’re often met with confrontation, as if we’ve done something wrong.

‘It creates an uncomfortable situation for staff, because at the end of the day, we can’t be responsible for other people’s children.’

Since enacting the no child policy this weekend, Egil said the response has been ‘amazing’.

Despite having to turn away a few groups with prams and children, he said the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

Some regulars are also opting to come into the Kenton Arms earlier, having previously avoided it because of the noise level from children. And other pubs are reaching out to Egil to see how the policy is going, he said.

‘I have received a lot of messages from other pub owners asking for advice about how this new rule has worked, because they’re considering putting similar measures in place. A lot of them are facing the same challenges,’ he said.

‘There are still plenty of pubs that serve food and cater to families, so there are lots of options. I should also add that not everyone was behaving badly—there were plenty of families who respected the pub.

‘I do feel sorry for them. But we can’t have different rules for different people, so we had to make it a blanket policy.’

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