Fuming mums slam boozer after children ‘instructed to show iPads down’ in restaurant

A modern row over children using iPads in pubs has come to the fore following a fracas at boozer in Manchester.

Two irate mums have blasted a historic Manchester pub, accusing it of not being child-friendly. They claim their kids were told to “turn the iPads down” during their meal at Sam’s Chop House in Manchester City Centre.

The use of iPads in pubs has become an increasingly common phenomenon among families in pubs and allows parents to have a drink or meal while the children are entertained. However, for others, the iPads are noisy and ruin the ambience of the pub.

The mums took to Tripadvisor to vent their frustration, leaving two scathing one-star reviews of the Victorian pub after a Sunday lunch there. They complained that no children’s menus were provided, there weren’t enough high chairs, and they were shocked when staff asked them to lower the volume on the iPads their kids were using.

Sam’s Chop House, a well-known Manchester watering hole, is located in a basement building dating back to 1868 on Back Pool Fold. Patrons descend a flight of stairs to enter the main pub area, where a statue of LS Lowry famously resides, before proceeding through a rear entrance to the main restaurant space adorned with ornate tiling and wood panelling.

The mums said they were informed they couldn’t bring their prams into the restaurant, which they accepted. However, they were then annoyed to discover only two high chairs were available when they needed four for their little ones.

They were further dismayed to find there were no children’s menus, meaning their kids “couldn’t have a meal”. They added that they were using iPads to keep the children occupied, but claimed the staff, who they described as “rude”, told them to “turn their devices down but they weren’t loud at all.”, reports the Manchester Evening News.

even though they insisted the devices weren’t loud.

Mums have unleashed their fury on Tripadvisor following a less-than-impressive Sunday lunch outing last month. They didn’t mince words about the service and were equally critical of the food.

In her scathing review, Heidi S expressed her shock: “I don’t usually write reviews but I’m appalled at the disgusting service we received yesterday. We came to Manchester to visit family and went to what we thought looked a nice restaurant for a roast dinner.”

She detailed the issues faced due to child-unfriendly policies: “We was with 4 young children and told that prams aren’t allowed in restaurant. This was not a problem we wanted high chairs for them anyways to eat their dinner.”

Heidi’s frustration was palpable as she recounted: “When we got to the table we asked for the high chairs only to be told they only have 2! Had to stick one of my children in their pram.”

The lack of options for kids left her dismayed: “There was no children’s menu so my children couldn’t have a meal! The roast dinner was horrible! Looks lovely, great presentation but I may as well go to Tesco and eat raw vegetables off the shelves because that’s exactly what they were, RAW! The beef was nice but only had 2 small slices. 1 roast potato that was basically a boiled potato.”

She blasted the “customer service was horrendous” and claimed a staff member: “asked us to turn my children’s devices down even though they weren’t loud at all! We had to entertain them with iPads because the restaurant didn’t provide anything for children to do like usual restaurants, not even food menus for them!”

Turning her ire towards the meal itself, she ranted: “£20.00 for a roast? I’d rather have gone to Toby Carvery for half the price and a much more decent roast dinner than atrocious meal they call Sunday roast. Their target audience and preferred audience is definitely posh people who come WITHOUT CHILDREN and drink wine from the £100 bottle.”

“We felt very uncomfortable in there and will not be returning. If you like a roast dinner avoid this place at all costs and if you have children definitely don’t go here.”

“I’m surprised they didn’t tell my baby to be quiet for the other guests when she started to cry, I mean we had enough funny looks every time one of the children spoke! “.

Joanne S also chimed in with her own review, saying: “Booked a table for 6 adults and 4 children for Sunday lunch 1st issue only had 2 high chairs 2nd issue was told by rude staff for the children to turn their tablets down saying they got other customers in, bearing in mind these customers were talking louder 3rd issue they didn’t cater for children couldn’t even do mash So children ended up not eating And 1 of our party was that disgusted with their attitude they decided not to eat either.”

She stated that they “did not feel welcome” and the roast dinner was “not even worth the money”.

Sam’s Chop House and Mr Thomas’s Chop House on Cross Street are both managed by the Victorian Chop House Company. The boss of the pubs, Roger Ward, admitted that some things did not go as planned on the day the mums visited.

He commented: “We do try, if we have got something wrong, we try to make it right. We take all complaints seriously and genuinely try to improve from it.”

“We didn’t perform that shift at our best, but have taken significant steps on all the issues they’ve raised and we thank the customers for raising them.”

Roger clarified that on the date of their visit, there had been “an enormously high number of children” visiting their two pub sites in Manchester. He explained: “We had a shortage of high chairs on the day because two were in repair and two from Sam’s were over at Tom’s because of a high number of children over there – by the end of the day that issue was rectified.”

Regarding the issue of a children’s menu, Roger insisted that they are a child-friendly pub, and offer smaller portions of adult meals rather than a specific kids’ menu.

He added: “Our policy on food is we don’t buy in frozen children’s meals, what we actually do is offer small versions of the proper real food cooked for adults here so that children get the same quality as the adults. But whether we communicated that well on the day I don’t know.”

“I always apologise if people have a bad experience, and find a way to make amends. That’s the only way to run a restaurant nowadays because we live and die by experiences people have. I don’t believe attack is in the best form of defence, we can always learn by things we do wrong.”

“If you want to take your kids out in nice surroundings, we would always want to be that place, we are child friendly and dog friendly, it’s not fine dining, but we do strive to be a nice place where kids and dogs are welcome.”

He pointed out that on the issue of the iPads with the customers, staff had made the request for them to reduce the sound after it was raised as a complaint by other tables of customers dining on the day.

Roger added: “The errors we were at fault on, we’ve addressed properly, robustly but nicely.”

“These reviews are not representative of our approach to children. We always aim to be child friendly and dog friendly because I have children and grandchildren (and a dog) myself.”