Brooklyn Bar-Baby Debate Goes National
A debate that will be familiar to any resident of Brownstone Brooklyn—whether or not children should be allowed in bars—was elevated to the national spotlight when CNN picked up an old thread on Brooklynian and a more recent story in The Courier this week about how the Windsor Terrace bar Double Windsor had banned babies…
A debate that will be familiar to any resident of Brownstone Brooklyn—whether or not children should be allowed in bars—was elevated to the national spotlight when CNN picked up an old thread on Brooklynian and a more recent story in The Courier this week about how the Windsor Terrace bar Double Windsor had banned babies after 5 p.m. We are Windsor Terrace and Park Slope parents like everyone else, one of the owners told The Courier. But the bottom like is that this is a bar, and most of our customers feel like it’s not an appropriate place for kids after hours. A single father profiled in the CNN story, however, contends that a little common sense and moderation are all that are needed for peace and harmony: “I’m not going to keep her out past 7 p.m. When the bar starts filling up, that’s when we head home…I’m not knocking back double vodkas while my daughter is stumbling around.” We’ll confess to having taken our school-age kids to Radegast for an occasional late-afternoon beer on the weekends, though like the guy in the CNN story, we’ve certainly never stayed past 7 p.m. and it’s always been combined with buying the kids dinner.
Brooklyn Brewhaha: Babies in Bars [CNN]
Photo from Babble.com
Oh and I find it annoying that the CNN story does not mention the food angle at Double Windsor. Because it really does change the debate, I think.
I have 2 kids and have very rarely taken them to bars. BUT Double Windsor is the only place to get a decent burger over here in WT and I’d like the option of going with my 6 yo at 5 pm to get a burger and a pint (for me). The place is empty then and if they are offering all this delicious food in an area that is woefully underserved in the food department, seems silly to me to ban kids at 5 pm. 7 makes more sense, and I’ve never taken a kid out that late anyway.
Whatever, it is totally within the establishment’s right to make these sorts of rules and I will certainly continue to go to Double Windsor as I like it there. But it’s too bad they picked such an early cut-off, IMO
The comments to the CNN article are pure entertainment. Personally, I had brought my son to a bar when he was younger but stopped….’cause it just ain’t the same anymore.
Total appropo of nothing….when I was little, my Mom would tell me to never look inside windows or doors of bars because someone would come out and grab me.
quote:
That is also why I don’t like Park Slope, because this is even a point of discussion.
it is NOT just park slope this is an issue with. park slope just happens to get a lot of the press about bad yuppie behavior. this happens all over the place, it’s also a huge issue in montclair nj lol.
*rob*
“I long for adult contact. … I don’t want to be excluded from the adult world.”
The guy has a problem if he thinks that the totality of the adult world exists in a bar.
Absolutely nothing wrong with a well behaved kid in a bar during non-peak hours. That’s how the rest of the world does things.
Live in the Slope and only time I’ve ever had a problem with the stroller mafia set was actually in the Heights.
Somebody should retaliate and open a bar across the street called MILF.
I guarantee MILF will be the more popular bar; and I never guarantee anything, believe me.
As a parent and former bartender, I feel the same way about babies in bars as I do about dogs and drunks in bars – there’s a time and place for everything, and when that time is done, please leave quietly. In the meantime, behave yourself and don’t be offended when the people around start acting like they’re in a bar. And if babies (or drunks or dogs) in the bar offend you, find another bar.
Kids are another thing – once they start walking, they have no place in a bar. Restaurants OK (yes, including Radegast – you’re alright there Brownstoner), but not bars.
And yeah, this was never an issue when smoking was allowed in bars.
As long as the ‘rents keep the kids under control & don’t try to dictate the behavior of other patrons I don’t mind. I’ve seen a few, though, who think they don’t have to watch over their rambunctious offspring & that’s a drag for everyone else – patrons & bartenders.