There are families sat enjoying a Sunday roast, and adults stood watching the football on three huge screens across the venue, as their kids gather at a long table for supervised arts and crafts. In an adjacent room, a separate ticketed event takes place, where kids dance along to live music and join in organised family games.
This is Big Penny Social in Walthamstow, east London. It's a huge beer hall with a community focus, and while other pubs in London have recently made the news by banning children from their premises, Big Penny Social welcomes them with open arms.
The venue hosts a regular Bring Your Baby Pub Quiz for brain-stimulating daytime socialising, where the quizzes take a slower pace to allow time for feeding and nappy changing. Little Thomas the Tank Engine fans will delight in Big Penny's Track Play sessions. Giant tracks are laid out with tunnels, stations, garages and bridges.
There are family-friendly raves and discos, kids cookery and arts workshops, and shows and performances aimed at little ones. Kids can burn off energy at one of the venue's Bounce House events, where the whole Event Space is taken over by massive inflatables, including a huge assault course. And there are special seasonal events. All these events are ticketed and can be booked in advance online.
For older kids, Flukes (the games space upstairs) which is usually 18+, hosts Family Sundays, where ages 12+ can play. Activities include shuffleboard, interactive darts, pool, karaoke, and as Sundays are off peak time, prices per activity are a very reasonable £5 per person, per hour.
Big Penny Social offers a kids' menu with prices around £7 for a main meal, and on Sundays you can order a kids' roast dinner. I visited with my sons Odhran, 10, and Reuben, 7, and while they were disappointed Fanta wasn't on offer, the venue does offer a large selection of drinks, and the boys settled for a lime and soda and a ginger beer.
Big Penny serves its own brewed range of draught beers, including Big Penny Lager, and guest beers from London craft breweries, alongside wine, cocktails, a large selection of spirits, an low/no-alcohol options.
The venue was so family-friendly that Odhran and Reuben had the opportunity to befriend a couple of other kids visiting. If you're looking to meet up with pals, who are also parents of young kids, then Big Penny Social is a welcoming space, where the kids won't be left bored and watching YouTube on your phone.