By SHAUNA ANDERSON
A storm in an espresso cup is brewing in a Sydney café with a Mum complaining she was booted from a Surry Hills café for taking her baby’s pram inside.
The Daily Mail reports that 35-year old Jessica Smith was having coffee with a friend when she was asked to leave as she was told there was no room for her 11-month old baby’s pram.
According to Jessica at the time there was only one other patron in the café.
After leaving the cafe, Jessica wrote the following post on Facebook.
Customers have taken to Gnome’s Facebook page with mixed feelings about the incident.
“Shame on you for not allowing parents with babies to have coffee on your premises! will make sure all my friends know about this and we certainly won’t be visiting whether we have baby in tow or not!” wrote one.
Another called for kids to be kept out of the café altogether “Ban kids and give adults some peace and quiet!”
The manager of the café responded on their page saying children of any age were welcome in the cafe but there wasn’t enough room for prams inside.
This story isn’t new – prams have been banned in cafés before.
In 2012 a Melbourne café made headlines when they banned prams on weekends. Parents cried discrimination and said they too would boycott the popular breakfast spot.
At the time John Hart the CEO of the Restaurants and Caterers Association told News Limited that cafe owners had to weigh up a number of obligations with prams.
“On the other side of the coin the business has an obligation to provide a safe workplace and a safe venue, obligations under public liability insurance and workers comp,” he said.
“It’s up to each individual business and that really depends on the constraints they have on their own business.”
What do you think, did the café go too far or should restaurants and cafes have the right to ban prams?
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Top Comments
With Australia's first Cat Café opening in Melbourne, I wonder if babes in prams will be allowed in there? -Actually just checked, and it seems they do not allow children under eight to enter the premises -even with their mummy or daddy. Such is life in the 21st century.
I'm a bit torn on this one. I too take up more room than most because I use a wheelchair, and I would hate to be told I was not allowed to go into a venue because of that. However I understand the space constraints in many cafés, and of course the safety of employees and other diners is a huge consideration. I think when, like me, you take up more room, you just have to be practical and factor this into your decision of which cafés you go to. Same with particularly crowded shops - I just don't go in. It's not fair that some places are off limits, but that is just reality.