Should supervised 16 year-olds be allowed beer in a bar?

[Ozzie Osmond]

The law says,

1. In a bar, no-one under 18 can buy alcoholic drinks or be given alcoholic drinks, although kids 14 to 18 can be present at the landlord's discretion. From 14 to 16 they must be with someone at least 28 years old.

2. In a restaurant (or pub eating area) under 16s with their parents can drink alcohol at the landlord's discretion, but can't buy alcohol.

3. In a restaurant (or pub eating area) 16-year olds can buy beer or cider with a meal. (They can drink, but not buy, wine & spirits)

QUESTION

Should 16-year olds be allowed to drink beer/cider in bars/pubs provided they're with someone over 28 and don't buy drinks themselves?

Edited by Ozzie Osmond on Saturday 21st March 11:27

Edited by Ozzie Osmond on Saturday 21st March 11:30

[CommanderJameson]

How interesting. You can still vote in a poll that has no options.

I think they should be able to drink small amounts of beer or wine, with a meal. No spirits, mixers or beer above a certain strength. I don't think there's anything wrong with a 16 year old having a small glass of wine or a couple of halves of Greene King, for example (3.8% abv), with lunch. The law allows this, as you say.

I fully support keeping kids out of the bar, though. It's not a place for children, and 16 is on the cusp - but at 16, you're still a sprog.

Edited by CommanderJameson on Saturday 21st March 11:31

[DrTre]

CommanderJameson said:

How interesting. You can still vote in a poll that has no options.

Kind of like a General Election!

Make it 18 across the board. That appeals to my OCD.

[randomman]

Its not landlord's discretion. I always thought it was different licenses?

I used to work in Pizza Hut (for my sins) and their license said no under 18's full stop.

Nearly got into several fights with little sts with their mates thinking they had to have alcohol.

Yeah mate I'm the one with easy access to this:

[Ozzie Osmond]

Oops! If anyone knows how to add a "yes" and a "no" please do! Comments are likely to be more interesting though.....

[130R]

No, keep under 18's out of pubs altogether.

[clarkmagpie]

i dont see the harm in allowing sensible drinking.
france & spain for example have been doing it for years...

ok ok, frenchies are bonkers so that may explain it

[Ozzie Osmond]

randomman said:

I used to work in Pizza Hut and their license said no under 18's full stop.

Interesting. These links to Pizza Hut licences in Aldershot and Portsmouth show no specific age limits.

http://www.rushmoor.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=567...

http://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/media/LIC_Pizza_Hut_B...

[randomman]

Ozzie Osmond said:

randomman said:

I used to work in Pizza Hut and their license said no under 18's full stop.

Interesting. These links to Pizza Hut licences in Aldershot and Portsmouth show no specific age limits.

http://www.rushmoor.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=567...

http://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/media/LIC_Pizza_Hut_B...

I assume different franchisee's have different licenses then. God it gets confusing!

[BoRED S2upid]

Yes

[Ozzie Osmond]

randomman said:

God it gets confusing!

Yes, I see the standard form they use in Portsmouth has a box at the end for stating whether uner 18s are banned completely!
Presumably this is must be for bars rather than restaurants.

[deviant]

No keep kids / teens out of pubs.

Fine in an eating area though which the law allows a sensible amount of discretion on already.

[missdiane]

Ozzie Osmond said:

Oops! If anyone knows how to add a "yes" and a "no" please do! Comments are likely to be more interesting though.....

I voted before the yes and the no, so now I cannot vote as it thinks already polled
Answer, yes.

[escargot]

Yes. The laws should be relaxed generally on underage drinking. The system abroad works perfectly well and you certainly don't see as many pissed tts falling out of bars & scrapping with lamp posts in France/Portugal et al.

[chris.mapey]

Ozzie Osmond said:

The law says,

1. In a bar, no-one under 18 can buy alcoholic drinks or be given alcoholic drinks, although kids 14 to 18 can be present at the landlord's discretion. From 14 to 16 they must be with someone at least 28 years old.

2. In a restaurant (or pub eating area) under 16s with their parents can drink alcohol at the landlord's discretion, but can't buy alcohol.

3. In a restaurant (or pub eating area) 16-year olds can buy beer or cider with a meal. (They can drink, but not buy, wine & spirits)

QUESTION

Should 16-year olds be allowed to drink beer/cider in bars/pubs provided they're with someone over 28 and don't buy drinks themselves?

Bear in mind that the law (as I recall, from when I had my exam on it) in this case only allows "Beer, Wine & Perry" to be served, not a full range of alcohol.

HTH

[NDA]

130R said:

No, keep under 18's out of pubs altogether.

I take my kids to country pubs and they're well behaved - they are aware that they shouldn't spoil the atmosphere for others. When they're 16 they can have a glass of wine or a beer if they want it...

Hopefully I'm removing the 'mystery' of pubs and restaurants so that when they hit 18 they don't go mad.

[cs02rm0]

I'd rather under 18s were offered moderate amounts of lower strength alcohol (i.e. beer, maybe wine) in public, social situations than just turning 18 (or more likely trying to get what they can underage) and going straight to the spirits without any moderation.

[Sheets Tabuer]

No, keep the brats at home.

If you want a puppy training session where you get them to sip shandy do it at home. I grew up in a pub and can tell you 1ml here or there and you have a riot on your hands.

[elster]

Yes I'm all for the drinking with parents, it promotes responsible drinking.

I do believe there should be a little bit of segregation allowed for those pubs with the space, and possible time restrictions.

But yes I'm pro teen drinkers.

[cazzer]

It's 7 in a beer garden apparently.
With parents.
Bet not many landlords know that one.