A former BBC newsreader has taken a pop at a Kent boutique hotel, saying that a screaming child spoiled a birthday lunch with a friend.
Jan Leeming posted on X of her experience at The Pig at Bridge Place, in the village of Bridge, near Canterbury.
Jan Leeming has hit out over a noisy child at The Pig in Bridge. Pictured here at a fete in Kent. Picture: Harold Chapman
She said she was treating a friend to a birthday lunch at the venue, which dates from the 17th century, but the occasion was spoilt by the screaming child on a nearby table.
She criticised the parents, who she claims did little to intervene, and suggested that if they could afford the prices at the upmarket restaurant, they could also afford a babysitter.
Ms Leeming said that when she paid, she remonstrated with the staff, but said: “I was treated as though I were the one at fault.”
Though Ms Leeming, 84, did admit: “Perhaps this shows my age.”
The Pig at Bridge Place is part of a chain of hotels and restaurants
She described one tot “as a real menace”, adding: “One tot was a real menace allowed to walk around and often screaming. Staff played with it!
“Another tot in high chair had a screen as a pacifier. Another was okay. Parents oblivious to other clients.”
The pub and hotel chain has 10 venues across the country, including in the Cotswolds, the New Forest, Hampshire and Cornwall.
Ms Leeming, who agreed that otherwise the venue had a “lovely ambience,” said that: “When paying the receptionist, she treated me as though I was out of order.
Jan Leeming’s tweet on The Pig at Bridge Place
“She defended parents bringing children to the restaurant – there were three.”
The tweets by the ex-newscaster, who was also a contestant in I’m A Celebrity in 2006, have sparked a lengthy debate on social media.
Many were sympathetic to the octogenarian.
One poster said: “I’m with you 100% Jan…parents these days just DON’T discipline their children and don’t think there is anything wrong with that.”
Another called for children under 12 to be banned “from ale houses and restaurants”.
A third said: “Modern Britain Jan, but you are dead right to complain.”
Another said: “As a parent, I always took misbehaving kids outside until they’d quietened down.”
Ms Leeming replied by saying: “Don’t think they can legally ban children. Also, it would adversely affect trade. So we just have to like it, lump it or not go again.”
Jan Leeming’s tweet on The Pig at Bridge Place
Others however felt more for the parents.
One response said: “Nice. No thought for the child then or their parents. That’s where we are then eh.”
KentOnline could not reach The Pig’s head office, Home Grown Hotels, for comment, but earlier a spokesperson for The Pig at Bridge Place, told MailOnline: “Everyone is welcome at The Pig at Bridge Place – and we go to great lengths to ensure that all of our guests (young and old) are looked after by our wonderful team.”