An argument has broken out on social media after a mother was asked to leave an Oldham pub.

Oldhamer Natalie Hetherington-Heywood visited The Angel Inn, in Lees, with her husband, sister, and brother-in-law on Friday night, along with the couple’s six-week-old baby, and two dogs.

She says the party weren’t told there were restrictions on having the baby or dogs there until after they had already ordered their drinks.

Natalie told The Oldham Times they had stopped off at the pub after a dog walk, and that they had just ordered drinks before being told they would have to finish up and leave, as children were not allowed in the pub at 8.30 pm.

After being told they would be allowed to finish their drinks, Natalie says staff came back after 20 minutes, once again asking the group to leave – and refused to give them a refund.

The pub's landlady, however, has insisted while the group were "regrettably" served outside allowed hours the group "took advantage of our lenience" and were "proceeding to play games of pool" after being asked to finish their drinks and leave.

Natalie said: “We asked for a refund again, because we’d not finished our drinks – and we were told we could have plastic cups and go on the street with it.

“We just finished our drinks and left.”

Natalie says she was drinking a non-alcoholic strawberry and lime cider, with other members of the group drinking Guinness and gin and tonic.

After the experience, Natalie left a negative review on the pub’s Facebook page, but was shocked by the owner’s response.

In the response, the landlady wrote: “You also proceeded to breastfeed your baby in a pub at 8.30 on a Friday night.

“Customers don’t go out Friday night to see someone breastfeeding their child, that is not acceptable.”

The response has since been edited, and an apology issued on the pub’s Facebook page – stating that breastfeeding is allowed, with the only issue being the group staying too late.

Pub landlady Kirsty Taylor told The Oldham Times said: “At the end of the day, we’re absolutely not at all, in any way, shape, or form against breastfeeding.

“However, there is really a time and a place where you would do that, and 8.30 on a Friday night – you shouldn’t be in a pub in the first place to do that.

“There was no issue whatsoever with her doing it, the issue was she was in the pub at that time with a newborn baby.

“At the end of the day, the issue is it’s a Friday night – it’s a drinking time of night, we’re not selling food or anything, it’s not the time of night that a child should have been in the pub.

“That’s the issue, there’s no issue at all with breastfeeding in the pub.”

Kirsty said the pub’s policy is to not allow children after 8pm, with the pub’s licence restrictions not allowing any children after 9pm.