A Heated Debate About the Presence of Children in Pubs Has Been Reignited After a Child Stole a Woman's Australian $2 Coin From a Pool Table

A heated debate about the presence of children in pubs has been reignited after a child allegedly stole a woman’s Australian $2 coin from a pool table.

The Australian pubgoer said that she had placed the gold coin on the side of the table, and within seconds, the child ran over and took it.

“I was at the pub, and we put our $2 coin down on the pool table. A little kid grabbed it and ran off with it,” a user, @Baccy.b0ng , said in a TikTok video that amassed over 600,000 views.

When the group approached the child’s mother to inform her of the incident, she reportedly responded, “Well, I can give you a $1 coin.”

“Are you taking the piss?” the woman exclaimed to her followers.

Commenters hit out at pubs for allowing kids in the first place, with one stating, “I agree! Pubs are not a place for children.”

“Why is a kid at the pub to begin with?” another questioned.

“I’ve never agreed with bringing kids to the pub. I’ve seen so many kids grow up in pubs, only to spend every day there as adults,” a third user wrote.

Some commenters wondered why the child’s mother didn’t return the coin or at least offer to pay them back in full.

“Why didn’t the parent take it from the child and give it back?” one person asked.

“As a kid who understood the rules of the pub, I never touched money on a pool table or took things that didn’t belong to me,” another commenter noted.

However, others felt the woman was overreacting.

“It’s only $2,” one viewer pointed out.

“It’s not a big deal, kids are going to be kids,” another added.

When approached for comment by news.com.au, the TikTokker declined to address the backlash she received but made a follow-up video clarifying a few things.

“I know it was just a kid, and kids do things like that. It’s fine. There was no beef,” she assured.

“We weren’t angry at the mother or the child. But the kid was old enough to know not to take things that didn’t belong to him.”

Last year, another debate about kids in pubs emerged after a man witnessed a family allowing their child to create a mess inside a pub without making any effort to contain them.

He took to Reddit, writing: “A family at my local pub let their kid fling food everywhere and made zero attempts to stop them before leaving.”

He shared a photo of hot chips scattered all over the floor and asked fellow forum members, “Is this okay now?”

The post received 1600 likes and nearly 500 comments, with almost all of them criticizing the parents’ behavior.

“Now? These people have always existed. I lost track of how many times I heard ‘It’s their job to clean it up’ while working at the movies as a kid,” one person remarked.

“I mean, even if it is, why do you have to make it harder?” another added.

Another commenter stated, “This is so entitled.”

While most Australian pubs still welcome children, a pub in the U.K. recently stirred controversy when it announced that children would no longer be allowed to dine there.

The venue provided several reasons for this decision, citing issues like “getting into mischief,” “playing with the cutlery,” “running around and annoying other diners,” and “using the table as a drum,” among others.

The Eriswell Chequers pub explained that it is not a “child-friendly” venue, as it does not offer a kids’ menu, play area, or baby-changing facilities.

The statement concluded by requesting that diners “please take their children to an establishment that accommodates families.”