The “guideline” came to light when the Robert Pocock pub in Gravesend, Kent, put up a poster on 19 January informing punters of the rule.
The notice read: “As part of our licensing, it is our responsibility to ensure that we are protecting children from harm.
“Therefore, adults in charge of children will be allowed to have one alcoholic drink and a further alcoholic drink with a sit-down meal.”
The poster has since been taken down, but the rule remains in place nationwide across the JDW estate, and can be enforced by individual managers at their own discretion.
The Licensing Act 1902 states if a person is found drunk in any highway or other public place, whether a building or not, or on any licensed premises, while having the charge of a child apparently under the age of seven years, can face a fine or up to a month in jail.
Encouraging responsibility
JDW spokesman Eddie Gershon said: “Our pubs welcome children under the age of 16 with an adult.”
Gershon further explained, however, that they must order a meal and, with that, comes the guideline for parents to be restricted to two alcoholic drinks to deter unsupervised kids – but this is at the discretion of the manager of each JDW pub.
He continued: “There is a guideline, though not a policy, that we will serve the adult a maximum of two alcoholic drinks with their meal.
“The reason is that we don’t want children being unruly in the pubs and parents thinking they can continue to drink while this happens. This has been the situation in our pubs for the past eight years.”
However, a JDW spokesman told Chad newspaper that the manager took the decision to put the poster in the pub to emphasise to customers of this guideline.
