Sweden edition

Stockholm cafe's kid ban has parents frothing

Published: 4 Mar 13 18:03 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/46540/20130304/

A Stockholm coffee shop has banned children from its premises and sparked an uproar among the capital's caffeine-loving parents.

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"People have to understand that we can't continue like this," Josef Shamon, a spokesperson for Nelly's café, told the neighbourhood newspaper Vårt Kungsholmen.

"A colleague of mine even burned his hand with hot coffee when he tried to duck away from a running child."

Fed up with out-of-control toddlers running wild in his café, management at Nelly's put up a sign last week warning parents their youngsters weren't welcome.

"For everyone's enjoyment, children are prohibited in this establishment," the sign read.

His would-be customers have not taken the ban lightly, although his café is not the first to ban pram-wielding parents who buy one beverage, sip away for hours and let their children run amok.

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A bakery in the southern suburb of Årsta did the same last year, also annoying parents who felt their rights had been infringed upon.

Shamon, meanwhile, has asked to come in for a meeting with Sweden's Discrimination Ombudsman (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen, DO).

Per Holfve, lawyer at the state-run agency, said the ban on children under the age of seven could constitute discrimination, especially since the government made the laws against age discrimination tougher on January 1st, 2013.

"It's not sufficient justification to say that the children disturb the customers," Holfve told Vårt Kungsholmen.

"If they're behaving abominably, the staff should tell the parents."

Nelly's will not, however, let the issue lie.

"We need a debate about this issue, and we are not going to change our minds," said Shamon.

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19:58 March 4, 2013 by StockholmSam

Though I am a parent with two young kids, I support the café. There are plenty of cafés out there to choose from if you have a kid or two. Just go to one of those. There are none that are child-free and I for one would love to know that I could go to Nelly's and escape the little tyrants for a bit, especially those belonging to other idi0tic parents. If you own the establishment privately then you should be able to prohibit dogs, begging vagrants and annoying brats. I get so tired of tripping over baby carriages and hearing the deafening cries of kids who dropped their cookies. Unfortunately, this is a slippery slope: what happens if the ban is allowed to stay? Will all the cafés do the same? I doubt it. Parents on parental leave will always be the lifeblood of café culture.

Stockholm cafe's kid ban has parents frothing

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