Father gets banned from Wetherspoons after angry row (2024)

A dad has been barred from a branch of Wetherspoon after confronting staff who stopped his 13-year-old son from drinkingan 'alcohol-free' cider.

Ian Richardson, 49, was returning from a shopping trip with his son,Edward, when he decided to pay a visit to The Regal on St Andrew'sStreet in Cambridge for a pint.

Upon entering the pub, Ian ordered a beer for himself and a bottle ofalcohol-free Strawberry and Lime Kopparberg for his son.

At the time, Ian claimed the staff member who served him had 'noproblem whatsoever' handing over the drink to the 13-year-old.

But, after they had taken a seat, Ian claimed a member of staff cameand took the bottle from the table.

'A few seconds later, the same chap comes along and asks my son forID,' Ian said.

'I'm sat there thinking 'what the blazes is going on here?' It wasjust ridiculous.

'I said "this seems strange" and I want to speak to the duty manager'.'

According to Ian, the duty manager came out and informed him that itwas against the pub's policy to allow under-18s to consume drinks withalcoholic content in the establishment.

Alcohol-free Kopparberg contains 'not more than 0.05% vol', meetingthe legal requirements for a 'non-alcoholic' drink in the UK.

Ian added: 'I took the glass with my right hand and I held it out,away from the table and away from this duty manager and said to my son'take this, drink it as quickly as possible'.

'The duty manager reached over the table and smashed the drink out ofmy hand, at which point I turned around and said 'I'm reporting you tosenior management'.'

A furious Ian then left the pub with his son.

'I feel quite angry,' Ian said.

'I feel quite put out towards Wetherspoons in general, whereas I havehad perfectly good service in the past.'

As a young boy, Ian said he was allowed to drink Shandy Bass, alow-alcohol beverage with a higher alcohol content than thealcohol-free Kopparberg.

He said: 'What I drank was 100 times stronger. If I caught himdrinking something like that, I would basically frog march him down tothe police station.

'It's three miles away but I'd still do it.'

Ian continued: 'To be punished for following the law is, in myopinion, seriously out of order, and my son was thirsty as a result.'

When approached for comment, a Wetherspoon spokesman took issue withIan's version of events.

He said: 'We are fully aware of the incident which we dispute.

'A staff member told the manager that he sold a pint of beer to agentleman who had also ordered a non-alcoholic strawberry and limeKopparberg. The gentleman then sat down on a table in front of the barwith his son and handed the drink to him.

'The staff member wanted confirmation on the rules regarding theserving of non-alcoholic and alcohol-free drinks in relation to under18s.

'It was explained to him that if the drink has an alcohol content,which the non-alcoholic Kopparberg does (0.05%), then the under 18should not be drinking it.

'The staff member then went over to the son and asked him for his IDwhere the gentleman stated that it was an alcohol-free drink andregardless of whether he had ID or not, he was allowed to drink it.

'The staff member told the manager that the father wouldn't let himtake the drink away and asked the manager to go and speak with him.

'When the pub manager approached the father, he became instantlydefensive and repeated the same statements.

'The manager tried to explain the rules and policy on the matter butthe gentleman wouldn't listen. When the son was asked for ID, hisfather told the manager that his son didn't need ID for the drink.

'The gentleman grabbed the drink and handed it to his son, telling himto drink it as they were leaving the pub.

'The manager reached out and tried to grab the drink, but the manmoved his arm away and dropped the drink onto the floor, shoutingthere had been an assault and that he would be reporting the managerto the police.

'Wetherspoon stands 100 per cent with the pub's manager and thecompany is more than happy to hand over CCTV to the police to show theentire incident on film.

'The gentlemen is now barred from the pub.'

When informed of Wetherspoons' decision to bar him from the pub, Iansaid he wasn't aware. He added that he 'couldn't care less' and thathe has other places to go to drink.