This UK pub made £20,000 in fines after banning mobile phones

A micropub in Kent has raked in upwards of £20,000 in “fines” after its owners enforced a ban on mobile phones on-site.

(Photo: iStock)

Landlord Mark Robson implemented a mobile phone ban when he opened the Just Reproach pub in December 2011, putting up a sign which read: “Your babbling disregard for others is more than a little annoying.”

If anyone’s phone rings or beeps, he fines them £1.

And already, the pub has made £20,000 in fines, which will be donated to charity, reports the Sun.

Pub regular Michael Spicer said: “The whole idea is people speak to each other.

“One day a local was asked for his phone number by a stranger.”

“By the time he’d given it out several of us had got it down and rung it, it cost him about seven pounds.”

Martin Doherty, one of the pub’s staff, said: “It’s quite an event if a phone rings on a packed Friday night.

“There’s a round of applause, and all positive as it means someone’s got to donate.”

The boozer is run by father and daughter duo Mark and Bronwen Robson.

A number of bars and pubs have attempted to curb their punters’ screen time on-site in recent years. Earlier this year the Fat Boar in Wrexham said it would offer customers a 25% discount on food if they hand their phones over at the door.

A recent study by the Office for National Statistics found that around 95% of Brits now own and regularly use at least one mobile phone daily, with 75% saying they keep theirs permanently switched on.