Child-free cafés: Why are children being excluded from public spaces?

Cafés offer far more than coffee to many parents — so why are children being excluded from public spaces?

A young mother breastfeeding her baby in a café while having a coffee. If we're banning children from cafés, let's not forget who else we are excluding. File picture

Hipster coffee shops are 10 a penny these days and it must be getting harder and harder to find a unique selling point. Step forward, Birdhill's Old Barracks Coffee Roastery, with a child-free policy that's been around since the beginning, but made it into the headlines again this week. 

The Old Barracks Coffee Roastery in Birdhill has caused a splash with its offering of a "child-free experience" to customers. No, that's not "your child goes free". Children aren't allowed on the premises, unless accompanying an adult getting a takeaway coffee. Dogs, incidentally, are welcome. Make of that what you will.