STAFF at a North-East pub have apologised to a young family who were asked the leave the building when they tried to feed their six-day-old baby.

The Matthews family stopped in at the Tanners Hall, in Darlington, for a coffee before they went to register the birth of their son, Finlay.

Mum and dad Fiona and Paul ordered their drinks, at the Wetherspoon pub, in Skinnergate in the town centre, and sat down to bottle feed the child.

But the couple were asked to leave by a member of staff, who told them it was against company policy to have children on the premises unless their parents were ordering meals from the bar's family menu.

"We were totally shocked," said Mr Matthews, aged 32, who lives in Willington, near Crook, County Durham.

"The lady at the bar said she was very sorry, but we would have to leave.

"She said we would have to buy a family meal if we were going to feed the baby and mentioned something about licensing law.

"We just stormed out. Everybody in the bar was staring at us - we felt totally stupid.

"In the end, we had to feed him outside in the freezing cold.

"There's a sign at the front door that says it's a family pub - that's nonsense as far as I can see."

The pub's bar manager, Dawn Tull, said the Matthews family should not have been asked to leave and offered them a complimentary meal as an apology.

"I would like to apologise to the family - this should not have happened," she said.

"The member of staff made a mistake and any time the Matthews' want to come back, we will treat them to a complimentary meal tao say sorry.

"We do have a rule about families with young children having to order food, but that is to stop people coming in to drink and letting their children run around.

"Obviously, this doesn't apply to a family with a six-day-old baby."

Mr Matthews said yesterday: "I don't think we will be going back to the Tanners.

"Our last visit put us off the place for good."