Child-free eating goes down a treat for burger lovers
A day after its child-free policy made international news, the lunch crowd was a little busier at Fabian Prioux’s Abbey Road Burgers, Bar and Cafe´ on Wednesday.
It had been been a hectic 24 hours for Prioux himself, fielding calls of support and interview requests from Nelson to BBC Radio in England.
He said the response had been ‘‘90 per cent’’ positive in favour of his decision to restrict children entering the restaurant, outright banning anyone under 12 and forcing anyone aged 12 to 18 to dine with a guardian.
‘‘It is a sign that something is wrong that the kids can do whatever they want and break things,’’ Prioux said.
‘‘I think I only had one guy ring this morning, trying to be sarcastic and saying he was wanting to bring in a group of 12-yearold kids with him.
‘‘I said it was fine if he was with them, but then he said they were 11, so I said I didn’t have time for his carry-on.
‘‘Others might do the same as us in the future, because we’ll get happier customers and a better work environment in the end.’’
Prioux said that while comments about the restaurant’s food had never been an issue, Abbey Road’s original Facebook page was closed down after a torrent of negative comments and bad reviews from customers who had been approached about their children’s behaviour.
‘‘It went against all our hard work – so when people lie or don’t appreciate what you’re saying to a child because they’ve broken something, it’s not fair.’’
Two parentally-inclined Stuff reporters visited the Beatle-themed restaurant to try the much-vaunted burgers and to experience a rare child-free dining experience.
Truth be told, the venue’s small size is enough to reconsider bringing anyone wishing to do more than sit down, enjoy a burger and point out the clues to Paul McCartney’s supposed death on the Abbey Road album cover displayed on the wall.
It was during the latter that enthusiasm led to a bottle of ginger beer being knocked over, spilling sugary liquid across our table and on to the floor. Even a 36-year-old journalist is not immune to dining fauxs pas, it appears.
Adding to the notion of any publicity being for the better, Kevin and Kieron Foster had travelled from their home at Kina, 15 minutes’ drive from the restaurant, to try the menu for the first time.
Neither are big Beatles fans, but the Fab Four burgers received a five-star review.
‘‘That was the best burger I’ve ever had – for me, it was the combination of flavours, whereas sometimes you’d go places where it’s just the cheese you’re tasting,’’ Kevin said.
As parents and former retailers, they said they had seen both sides of Prioux’s argument, and supported his viewpoint.
‘‘When we brought our kids up, we started off at McDonald’s, and they can run around and play, but as they got older we’d take them to a family smorgasbord so they’d learn how to handle food, sit down and eat it properly,’’ Kevin said.
‘‘We wanted to try something different, and we feel very much for [Prioux] – it’s not so much a sign of the restaurants these days, more a sign of how bad patrons are becoming. Stuff like sticking knives in tables and ripping menus to bits is simply vandalism.
‘‘People will always look at this as the end result and shoot the messenger, instead of focusing on the real reason – that’s human nature.’’