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There are many pleasures in life you have to (temporarily) kiss goodbye as a parent: lazy weekend mornings, blissful uninterrupted baths, and wearing pristine white clothing without fear. But why should having a Sunday afternoon pint be among them? One Dalston dad has spent months creating an app called Pubs With Playgrounds, which is dedicated to chronicling the elite brand of watering holes that don’t just tolerate kids, but welcome them.
Television producer Alistair Duncan started the project as a shared Google Map with friends, who’d all contribute when they found an especially kid-friendly pub. Then, after his appendix burst in January, he decided to devote his enforced downtime to the greater good, by building a free pub app for parents all over the UK to enjoy.
Pubs With Playgrounds has a database of nearly 1,000 pubs, with tags indicating whether they have key plusses including an outdoor play area, highchairs, a kids’ menu and cask ales. Some of the best pubs on the list really are paradises for the prepubescent, with treehouses, big slides, mud kitchens and swing sets. But Londoners browsing the app might feel a little pang, because there are surprisingly few city pubs with even a micro-playground to their name.
No wonder inner London’s birth rate is plummeting when so many of the most family-friendly hangout spots are clustered in the alluring green belt, just beyond the city’s edges. Still, the app does list some great, relatively centrally located options, including Dalston Eastern Curve Garden, Manor Park’s Golden Fleece, Ealing’s The Duke of Kent, and Norwood’s The Rosendale – all of which offer welcome space for kids to play and explore while their parents delight in the rare pleasure of telling a full anecdote without being interrupted.
Do you know a great kid-friendly London pub that’s missing? The app is hoping to build a community of users who refuse to let parenthood stand between them and a great pint. Join up, and share your hard-earned wisdom.
Pubs With Playgrounds can be downloaded for free on iPhone and Android here.
Here’s Time Out’s pick of the best family-friendly pubs in London.
And here are the greatest pubs in London, full stop.
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