'Unruly' boy, 7, banned from pub

A seven-year-old boy has been barred from a pub for his "unruly behaviour". Ronnie Wighton was served with a formal notice banning him from the pub in Adelaide, Australia, for one month, after customers and staff complained about his offensive antics.

The final straw came on a Sunday evening earlier this month, when Ronnie refused to get down from a wall he had climbed at the Rocks Tavern.

"I asked his father to take the boy home and told him he was welcome to come back and keep drinking with his mates but he said I wasn't kicking him and his son out of the pub and told me to ring the police, which I did," Kevin Mullins, the landlord, said. "Within 10 minutes there were five patrol cars there and they all left.



"My staff have been pulling their hair out over this kid." He added: "It got to the point where something had to be done." The next day one of Mr Mullins's staff served a formal barring notice on Ronnie at his home.

Philip Wighton, Ronnie's father, who is a biker, accused the pub of over-reacting, saying that his son had been reduced to tears when the police cars arrived. Ronnie himself said he was confused by his punishment. "All I was doing was running along the wall," he told the Adelaide Advertiser.

The family is seeking legal advice about whether a barring order can be enforced on a child.