'We're not a creche!' Owner of trendy south London cafe who told mother to leave because her three-month-old baby was crying insists it was annoying customers

 The owner of a popular south London café has hit back at critics after staff asked a mother and her baby to leave because it was crying.

The woman was in Brick House Bakery in East Dulwich when she was asked to temporarily leave in order to settle the three-month-old infant.

A row has now broken out on social media after the mother told her friends about what happened.

Jennie Hall, who was with her at the time, expressed her disappointment on Instagram.

She wrote: “It was three minutes of crying which the mother was trying to settle and she was stressed about it as it was.

“We were not even offered paper bags for the food that had just been purchased.

"Totally on board with a crying baby being annoying but a friendly, ‘would you mind popping outside to see if baby quietens, you can leave your just purchased food here’ would have sufficed.

“A little compassion goes a long way.”

However the owner of the highly rated café, Fergus Jackson, hit back, saying the place was “a café not a crèche”.

He told MailOnline: “Parents have a responsibility to look after their children. We are a cafe, not a creche.

“We’ve had a number of complaints recently that our café is turning into a crèche. We don’t have a policy about crying children but as business owners we are responsible for the overall environment.

“She was very politely asked if she would step outside for a minute to settle the baby but she chose to leave.”

Another customer Dan Berrie wrote on the Instagram that the café was “absolutely disgraceful”.

He said: “Love what you guys do, but your attitude towards babies stinks.

“Our mate was asked to leave your place in East Dulwich today because her three month old was crying.

“Absolutely disgraceful kicking out (paying) customers for that reason. Hold your heads in shame.”

The café responded: “If you have been to our café you would know that our attitude to babies does not stink.

“At any given time, there are a number of babies in the café. We provide high chairs, changing facilities, happily warm bottles and make babycinos and have no problem with breast feeding.

“But, we are a café not a crèche, and we have been getting an increasing number of complaints from (paying) customers about babies crying.”

They added: “It’s not something we relish or enjoy, quite to opposite in fact, but our goal is always to keep the majority of our customers happy and protect our business.”