Only over-21s allowed! Pub bans drinkers aged 20 and under after ‘rude and obnoxious’ youngsters kept ignoring Covid rules

A pub has banned customers who are aged 20 and under because of 'rude and obnoxious' behaviour by youngsters who have failed to follow Covid-19 guidelines. 

The Old Neighbourhood in Stroud, Gloucestershire, said younger drinkers have been table-hopping, flouting social distancing rules and annoying neighbours since the pub garden reopened on April 12. 

Landlord Jonathan Armstrong said regular customers have stopped visiting the pub because they feel intimidated by the bad language, shouting and loud behaviour.  

Mr Armstrong said: 'Staff were constantly having to tell them to sit down, to stop hopping tables and to follow the guidelines. 

The Old Neighbourhood in Stroud, Gloucestershire, have banned under-21s after saying younger drinkers have been table-hopping, flouting social distancing rules and annoying neighbours since the pub garden reopened on April 12

'Constantly you have to fight them about it and then they just start getting rude and obnoxious. 

'We constantly have to apologise to neighbours because they're making such a noise. It's just not what we are about. It's a shame, it really is.

'We're really upset about it because it's something we're not used to and I think it's unnecessary.' 

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He has employed a doorman to try to help keep order at the pub, he said. 

'It's unfortunate because there are youngsters who are really well behaved and I hate painting people with the same brush.' 

With people under 25 years old filling all 140 outside seats on some evenings, Mr Armstrong said he thought the bad behaviour might be caused by lockdown and by fewer pubs being open. 

 Landlord Jonathan Armstrong said regular customers have stopped visiting the pub because they feel intimidated by the bad language, shouting and loud behaviour (FILE PHOTO)

Mr Armstrong said: 'I think what's happened is that a lot of the pubs have closed because they haven't got outside gardens, so anyone with a garden is attracting all these other people. 

'I often wonder if it's maybe because they've come of age during lockdown and they haven't been to a pub before. I'm not sure, they just don't seem to know how to behave. 

'We're a small country pub, we're not used to this type of behaviour. It's also the mess and the general bad etiquette that we're just not used to.' 

Mr Armstrong said he hoped normality would return on May 17, when up to six people will be permitted to meet indoors and more pubs open under the Government's road-map out of lockdown. 

He added: 'Hopefully it's a short term thing. We are in the hospitality business so I hate being inhospitable to anyone.'