O'Neills pubs.

[paulgmb]

Hi all,

 

I visited the O'Neills pub in Bournemouth with my family recently, you know that "Friendly Irish pub chain," and according to their website they are Bournemouths warmest welcome!!

 

Well we could have done with a warm welcome, it was blowing a gale and tipping down with rain. We went in and ordered drinks and sat down, took our coats off and started looking at the food menu. We were then approached by the barman who had just served us who asked my sons for ID. My eldest produced his driving licence and I said to the barman that my youngest was 16 but as he knew (because he had just served me with my youngest son by my side) he was only drinking coke although because we would be eating there could have legally had a pint!

 

Well there was plenty of "Craic" as he then asked us to leave because my son wasn't 18. So they take your money and then throw you out!!

 

Obviously unhappy at this, especially as he was the one who had served us, I said I wanted to speak to his manager. Repeat of the above so I said we would leave once we had finished our drinks. Not good enough for the landlord of Bournemouths warmest welcome pub who said he was calling the police who when they arrived admitted that we were breaking no laws but because the landlord had asked us to leave by refusing we were commiting a public order offence if we didn't comply. It took 3 of them to tell us to get out or we would be arrested although one of them was busy filming us, (is this a common thing in Bournemouth) if I didn't know he was dead I thought Jeremy Beadle was going to jump out on us. There was me thinking that we were in a public house and the police are supposed to uphold the law:confused:. We left under protest.

 

To add insult to injury we then found that we were barred from all pubs/restaurants, to quote one of them because they had had reports we were causing trouble!!

 

A takeaway it was then and a day out ruined.

 

I have visited Ireland a lot with my family and whenever we went out famillies were always very welcome in all the bars we visited. Clearly O'Neills is happy to trade on the traditional Irish pub theme whilst in reality they are as Irish as Robert Mugabe.

 

Needless to say as a member of the consumer forum community, I won't let it rest there. Has anyone else experienced similar hostility from this pub chain?

 

I'll let you know what replies I get from the company and the relevent authorities. AVOID!

 

Regards,

 

Paul:mad:

[gyzmo]

This happened to me when I took my 17 year old brother out for a meal and a drink. Thankfully, I had just finished uni and conveniently had a copy of the 2003 Licensing Act (as well as 20 other Acts) and quoted as well as shown the relevant sections to the staff who were glad to accept (this was Weatherspoons in Liverpool).

 

I would write to the head office and advice what has happened. By accepting the money they had accepted your custom. You done nothing wrong. If they wanted no under 18s they should make this quite clear at the entrance.

 

I wouldn't have gone into one of those fake Irish pubs anyway, but any pub that treats customers taht way needs boycotting!

[paulgmb]

Thanks Gyzmo, yea I'm waiting to hear back from them. I've demanded an apology and that the money they took under false pretences be donated to a charity of my choice.

 

Dependeing on their reply I will also take it up with Bournemouth council et al and I'm sure the tourist board would like to know how visitors to the town are welcomed!!

 

Never had any trouble in Weatherspoons or anywhere else for that matter. I'll let you know how I get on.

 

Regards,

 

Paul.

[zacneeds]

It's absolutely moronic.

 

There's nothing illegal about having children in public houses if they are accompanied by adults and they are not consuming alcohol.

 

My fantastic O'Neill's experience is as follows.

 

We recently moved into a house in North Finchley. Six of us went in to the North Finchley O'Neills to watch the Ireland v Georgia World Cup qualifier.

 

They had the Ireland match on the big screen and so we sat down, spent an hour buying drinks and watching the match when the barman came over and said they had to turn over to the England match (a meaningless friendly, which they subsequently lost) so I enquired, "Oh ok, so to which part of the bar do we go to watch the rest of the Ireland match?"

"Oh we can't show it. We can only show on Sky channel at a time."

 

So O'Neill's, the self-appointed bastion of Irishness in the UK lures a group of Irish fans in to watch the first half and then leaves them stranded for the climax of the match to sate the minute appetite of the barely-interested English barflies.

 

We missed the next fifteen minutes trying to find another pub that was showing the Ireland game but came across a very good bar called Toolans which now has become out 'local' and now aren't obliged to rely on O'Neill's anymore.

 

Well, every cloud.

[gyzmo]

Remember that a pub can refuse entry or service to anyone it likes (so long as not discriminatory). The problem here is taking money - and THEN refusing custom.

 

As to the other bits,

 

 

• Anyone under 16 MUST be accompanied by an adult.
  
• A 16 - 17 year old can buy or have purchased for them beer, cider or wine IF:
  
• It is with a table meal (a packet of crisps and sarnie at the bar do NOT count!) AND
  
• the 16/17 yo is accompanied by someone 18 or over.
  

Although the above is permitted by legislation, again, a pub has a right to refuse to serve someone.

[Maria Anthony]

Hi Paul

I'm VERY fed up with O'Neills myself. I used to love visiting their different branches and enjoyed their food etc... but that all changed on my son's 18th birthday which was on the 4th August 2011. Our family hired a car for the day and drove to Winchester. Like your day, it was also very rainy. I wanted to celebrate my son's coming of age and bought some drinks for my family including half a pint of lager for my 6 foot 2 son who was 18 that day. I paid for the drinks and only then did the bartender refuse to let my son have his half pint as we didn't have ID to prove that he was 18.

 

I was upset, as it was important for me to be able to buy my son an alcoholic drink as a way of celebrating his coming of age. I think the barman was overzealous. For God's sake, my son was only having half a pint! He also wouldn't take my word that my son was 18, so basically it implies that I was lying about my son's age. I too will intend to complain to head office.

We just wanted a quiet drink during the day-time and that barman ruined my son's birthday. I intend never to set foot in O'Neills again!

 

Maria Anthony

[Steve Ulkrik]

Hi

Edited August 6, 2011 by Steve Ulkrik

[Steve Ulkrik]

..

Edited August 6, 2011 by Steve Ulkrik

[LEEDSMODUS]

Hi Paul

I'm VERY fed up with O'Neills myself. I used to love visiting their different branches and enjoyed their food etc... but that all changed on my son's 18th birthday which was on the 4th August 2011. Our family hired a car for the day and drove to Winchester. Like your day, it was also very rainy. I wanted to celebrate my son's coming of age and bought some drinks for my family including half a pint of lager for my 6 foot 2 son who was 18 that day. I paid for the drinks and only then did the bartender refuse to let my son have his half pint as we didn't have ID to prove that he was 18.

 

I was upset, as it was important for me to be able to buy my son an alcoholic drink as a way of celebrating his coming of age. I think the barman was overzealous. For God's sake, my son was only having half a pint! He also wouldn't take my word that my son was 18, so basically it implies that I was lying about my son's age. I too will intend to complain to head office.

We just wanted a quiet drink during the day-time and that barman ruined my son's birthday. I intend never to set foot in O'Neills again!

 

Maria Anthony

 

anyone with a slightest amount of common sense would ensure their 18 year child would be carrying I.D. to prove his age. You cannot blame this pub for you stupidity. How many people go into public houses and lie about age, so what makes you think this pub should take your word over anyone elses. Pubs near me have a think 25 policy and if you do not look 25 you simply do not get served unless you have I.D.. I think that if your son went into any public house there is a very strong chance that he will be refused to be served, without any I.D.. what are you going to do next complain to every pub. ?

[dreadpiratesteve]

It should be noted that bar staff can be fined and lumbered with a criminal record for surving under 18's.

 

The fine is £80 and given that most bar staff work part time and on minimum wage, you can imagine that equates to roughly 15 hours work!

 

And as the police and the local authorities can send in under 18's to attempt to purchase alcohol at any time, most staff are paranoid and are only doing their job!

 

Most, if not all, pubs now adopt some kind of "if the staff think you look over 21, you will be asked for ID" scheme and have done for at least 5 years!