Rude student bar staff, am I being silly?

ryouga

Its a public bar, but aimed at students

What has happened is a few friends from college and I went into the local student bar on a hot day, wanting a glass of soft drink, my friends are 16 and 18 and look it.

As we walked through the door the girl who looked about 19 said "stay there, id please" I said to the girl politely "we just want soft drinks" she said "sorry but you need id" we searched for it, and me and my 18 year old friend(im 24 and look much older as im going grey and receding hairline due to stress lol) found ours but my friend who was 16 had none, and we told her this and said my friend was 16 she said we all needed id, I said to her why do we need id to buy soft drinks, and our ages and she said "in case you pass drinks back to your underage friend"

The funny thing is, the bar had a couple of familys there, a woman in her 40's maybe older with a lad about 14, she was allowed in, why not us?

Anyway a week later I go back in with 2 different friends both over 18, to get id'd again to get soft drinks! and a woman with 3 kids walks in no problem!

Since then whenever I see this woman she id's me, and all the other staff are ok, and I say shes rude as her tone of voice is really nasty and I get the impression she doesnt want me or my friends in there.

I want to complain but dont want to be silly!

odds-n-sods

no, i dont' think you are silly, I would phone the manager and explain as you have here; see what she/he says.

surfcat

Personally I tend to avoid pubs and bars frequented by teens. Long may they continue to reserve the right of admission.

kr15snw

This has got to me before aswell. I was refused entry to a big chain pub as I didnt have any ID on me (Im 20, so get Id'd about half the time). Now I wouldnt have minded if they had ID'd me when it came to buying drinks as I dont drink and was driving so was only going to be having soft drinks.

All I wanted was to have a meal with my OH (and the meals were quite cheap here) before we went to a concert across the road. The bit that annoyed me was that it was only 6pm and they were still letting families in. When I questioned this I was told 'well theyre not going to try getting served are they'.

In the end I guess they lost out as there was a group of about 15 of us meeting and having meals. The others in the group (who were already inside) were drinking. So we moved to another pub, and I guess they missed out on about £200 of business. The bouncer looked mightily miffed when the rest of the group trouped out, he asked if they were ok and got told by one of my friends 'not really, were moving to another pub where our 20 year old friend can enjoy a soft drink and a meal'

Im completing for the whole Id thing and dont mind being asked if its to buy products or get into an over 18 only club. But this wasnt! It was a family pub and I was turned down because he thought I may try and buy drinks! Let the bar staff Id me then if I tried, as I wasnt planning on it

I would complain, it seems that she is constantly picking you out for this and its not fair on you.

Dave_Brooker

ryouga wrote: »

The funny thing is, the bar had a couple of familys there, a woman in her 40's maybe older with a lad about 14, she was allowed in, why not us?

Because a mum is unlikely to buy booze for her child, while a mixed group of 16 and 18 year olds are just the sort of people who would try it on.

Don't take it personally, the pub is just trying to protect it's licence.

hollydays

op,How rude can she be to you now?She asks you for id-you produce it smiling.In the end,the fact is that families very rarely sneak in to buy and serve alcohol to the underage,but 16 year olds and 18 year olds do.Ok she could refuse to let you in,she hasnt-just dont let her see it bothers you.

olly300

I've had to put up with bar staff id me all the time when I was clearly over 18 so OP if you know who she is, just get all your group to show her your ID card when you enter without being prompted and say "here's our IDs" She will either be rude or polite about it but she won't ask for your ID so much.

I know because it's happened to me.

Butlers1982

But what is the point of complaining? what do you expect to get in return?

I personally would contact the most senior person in charge and give them "feedback"

rufus79

While it can seem unfair (and may well be) the laws around liscensed premises are a bit odd. No one at all has the 'right' to be allowed in or served at all, regardless of whether they have id, are sober, are dressed nicely, etc etc. You do not need to be given any reason for refusal either. If the only issue seems to be over id, just make sure you always have it. Studenty-type places are often extra strict on this anyway.

Idiophreak

I have to say, I don't think they're being overly unreasonable in refusing your mate entry...

As others (including that person in question..) have said, people in the type of group you went in with are quite likely to try and pass booze around to the younger members...So, really, I think the pub's doing the right thing in trying to cut out this behaviour.

I really wouldn't let it bother you - if they don't want your business, vote with your feet and go somewhere that does.

If the barmaid's really being rude to you, though, that's a different issue and should be raised with a manager.