Mark Thomas with daughter Evelyn who he says was drunk after having a cocktail instead of a mocktail (Picture: Mercury)

A father says that his daughter was left nursing a hangover after she got ‘drunk’ on a cocktail at Frankie and Benny’s.

Evelyn Thomas, four, knocked back around a third of her drink before realising the mocktail she had ordered from the children’s menu wasn’t quite right.

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She was at a restaurant in Warrington with dad, Mark, and his fiancee Kathryn Wilson, 29, who initially thought she was being picky.

They told her to drink more of what they thought was a Fruity Sunrise but turned out to be a F&B on the Beach – a drink made of vodka, peach schnapps, and orange and cranberry juice.




A waitress realised what had happened and rushed over to their table to tell them that there had been a mistake.

Evelyn suffered her first hangover at the age of four after the mistake at Frankie and Benny’s (Picture: Mercury)

Evelyn started telling jokes, dancing in their booth, couldn’t walk in a straight line and giggled to herself in the bathroom mirror after drinking it.

Mark, from Newton-le-Willows, said: ‘She was really thirsty when the drink was brought over so she had gulped about a third, but she recoiled and said she didn’t like it.

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‘We thought it was just her being fussy, as most four-year-olds are. One week fish fingers are her favourite, the next week she doesn’t like them.

‘We looked at each other and told her to drink it because she likes fruit juice. She had a few more sips but no more.

‘Then the waitress came over and was really worried, she looked like she was about to cry. She told us that she had accidentally given Evelyn a real cocktail.

She was served a F&B on the beach instead of a fruity sunrise (Picture: Mercury)

‘Me and Kathryn just looked at each other, I don’t think I believed it at first. The waitress was really apologetic.

‘I didn’t really know how to react but I acted kindly towards the waitress and told her not to worry and that we would keep an eye on Evelyn. We kept asking her if she was okay and if she needed anything but she said she was fine.

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‘Then she stood up in the booth and just started dancing. Four-year-olds are silly anyway so we weren’t sure if it was the alcohol or just her being a four-year-old.

‘She told us she needed a wee so I took her into the baby change toilets as there was more room in there. I wanted to see if she could walk but she was swaying, she also walked into a post.

‘I led her into the toilets but she didn’t have a wee – she did start to look in the mirror, laughing at herself and telling funny jokes.

Mark and Kathryn ended up taking her to A&E to get her checked over (Picture: Mercury)

‘This may have looked normal for any other four-year-old but I knew it wasn’t normal for Evelyn.’

At around 9pm, Mark ordered a portion of garlic bread to help her soak up the alcohol.

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Mark, 33, said: ‘At this point we were getting quite concerned. She couldn’t eat the garlic bread so I got her some ice cream as I know alcohol can lower the blood sugar levels in children but she still couldn’t eat it.’



Mark Kathryn took her home to see if she could sleep it off before they were told by a 111 operator to take her to A&E to be checked over.

Mark said: ‘What really scared me was that she was really hard to wake up – I was trying everything to get her to wake up.

A waitress realised the mistake and went over to retrieve the cocktail (Picture: Google Street View)

‘They did tests and she couldn’t walk in a straight line. Anything serious was ruled out and we were told she was just tipsy and to keep an eye on her.

‘They said she would have a hangover. I couldn’t believe it, she was four years old and about to have her first hangover.

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‘Kathryn stayed off work with her the next day. She was complaining of a headache so we kept her fluids up.’

After contacting Frankie and Benny’s, Mark was offered a free meal voucher, which he claimed was ‘unacceptable’.

He is now calling for tighter training around alcoholic drinks and for ‘mocktails’ to be served in a cup that is instantly recognised as being for children.

Mark said: ‘We were quite calm about the whole situation at first but when Kathryn was on the phone to 111 I tweeted Frankie and Benny’s.

‘All I got back was “we’re sorry about this” and then after a few messages they gave us a free meal voucher.

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‘You give a free meal voucher to someone who complains about food, not when a four-year-old has ended up drunk. I don’t want this to happen again.


‘We’re not going back there – they need more training. I don’t think they should be serving kids ‘mocktails’ unless there is more to distinguish them from normal alcoholic cocktails.

‘We are very sympathetic to the waitress here, she was genuinely upset by it. We don’t want her disciplined by her employer, we see it as a training issue.’

A Frankie & Benny’s spokesman said: ‘We sincerely apologise for this unfortunate incident and any distress caused.

‘Our staff acted quickly as soon as they became aware of the situation. This was genuine human error and we will do our utmost to ensure this does not happen again.’