IT’S fair to say there aren’t too many things more frustrating than having to put up with a screaming child on the one night you decide to dine out.

A restaurant owner in far north Queensland agrees, and after one particular incident, he decided enough was enough.

Liam Flynn is the owner of Flynn’s, a French and Italian restaurant in Yungaburra, about an hour’s drive from Cairns, with a population of 1000.

After a run-in last month with customers who were slow to remove their crying two-year-old, Mr Flynn set a new restaurant policy: no more children under the age of seven.

The move may be controversial but if you think it might be bad for business, Mr Flynn says you’d be wrong. “Business is booming,” he told news.com.au.

Some have called the policy “disgusting” and “discriminatory”, but Mr Flynn says it’s his prerogative who he chooses to serve and that “there’s such a thing as positive discrimination”.

He said the support for the policy had been overwhelmingly positive and believes “other businesses might take heed of it themselves”.

It all started with an incident early last month when a couple kept their crying two-year-old child in the restaurant for what Mr Flynn says was about 10 minutes, something he called “entirely unacceptable”.

After speaking with the parents for the second time, Mr Flynn asked them to take the baby outside, at which point the couple took offence and made a show of exiting the venue.

According to Mr Flynn, when speaking with the husband at the counter, the wife appeared from the bathroom and said: “If you think that’s screaming, you can go and get f***ed.”

Incensed by the altercation (and similar ones in the past), Mr Flynn walked to his office and printed off a sign declaring that only those over the age of six would be permitted in the restaurant.

The mother of the two-year-old later took to review site Tripadvisor to vent about her experience.

“The owner asked us to keep the noise down quite rudely. Within a few minutes he returned and asked us to take ‘the child’ out of the restaurant!

“Our little one wasn’t misbehaving or wreaking havoc. On leaving without completing our meal, we complained about the manner in which we were treated. That caused a heated discussion,” she wrote.

Shortly after, Mr Flynn posted on the restaurant’s Facebook page announcing the new rule. However, when people began to share it — and criticise it — Mr Flynn deleted the post. But his restaurant manager, Sonia Tymecka, implored him to repost it. “Let it go viral,” she said.

He relented and she reposted it.

“The feedback from our diners regarding screaming babies have been nothing but wholly negative and in the interest of their wishes we have decided to introduce this policy and it will stand (sic),” the post reads.

The post spread, and debate quickly ensued.

“YES YES YES about time we got rid of screaming kids. Eating out is a luxury and expensive. As a young child my parents taught me to behave in a restaurant and enjoy the food. I am in the industry and find some parents have no idea the inconvenience caused by such behaviour,” wrote Simon Geare from Melbourne.

“You have my support and I’m a parent. We need somewhere to go and have a break ... I don’t know why some are getting so fired up about it,” wrote Sydney woman Marie-Louise Burness.

Regardless of public opinion, the sign is still displayed at the front door and the policy will remain.

“There’s plenty of haters on Facebook, but not one of them have come to us in person to say ‘We think this sucks’,” Mr Flynn said.

“We’re not doing it to be snobby but rather to maintain the high standards of the restaurant.”

It’s tough to argue with someone who knows the industry as well as he does. Having started work in his mum’s New Zealand milk bar at the age of nine, he’s spent nearly three decades working in the service industry.

Despite his initial concerns, any form of backlash hasn’t translated into a decline in trade. Since enacting the policy, Mr Flynn says business has been great, notching its best weekend on record at the end of last month.

“Local people are voting with their feet,” he said. “The support’s been overwhelming. We have a lot of people who usually come in a couple times a year who have come in the show their support (for the rule).”

However, he does admit the flurry of media attention he’s received regarding the policy has likely helped. “Suddenly we’re famous,” he joked.

Working in the service industry for so long, Mr Flynn said he had noticed a trend in the public becoming more “abrupt” and more “entitled” in his dealings with them.

“There’s a great sense of entitlement that because people are paying good money, everyone else has to put up with it,” he said.

There has been some difficulties with the new policy, however. The restaurant had its first walk in with young children last Friday, and the lack of welcome was not well received. When the woman was turned away she “turned abusive,” Mr Flynn said.

“She became offensive and left in a huff.”

But Mr Flynn is sticking to his guns, and he has a simple message for customers: “Service is a two-way street.”

Know of any other restaurants that have adopted a similar policy? Let us know at Nicholas.Whigham@news.com.au