Family Should Have Phone Ahead Before Bringing Autistic Child Out For Meal

Jake Crocker took to Facebook to share his disgust about his families treatment after going out for a meal.

Crocker said  “I have never felt so angered that I would even have to write this. Went to the cherry tree tonight for my sisters 21st, as most of you know that Leo is autistic and can be a bit vocal. My dad walked past a table close to ours and apologised for the noise to which he replied “thanks for that”, a few minutes later the guy (who now turns out to be the owner) made his manager come over and ask us to control the children.

Amy (mother of the child)then stopped her and explained that if they know how to parent an autistic child better than us then they are more than welcome to try. Leo was given a colouring book by the staff to try and quieten him. The staff then approached our table and said they we should have specified that there was an autistic child on our booking?! We’ve never had to before so I’m unsure as to why this would be necessary now? It then escalated by the owner coming over to our table and we (as a table of 15) had to leave. I’m absolutely disgusted. This will be going further and I hope they are ready”.

The Cherry tree pub in Rochford, Essex owner Gary Downham said that “it was noticed that one of the young children would not stop screaming or shouting and whilst our restaurant is child friendly the level of screaming was such that it was difficult to hold a conversation”.

Downham added that he goes to great length to accommodate ALL our customers.