Whilst I like the sentiment, and when I have parties at my house I try to encourage the whole "leave your phone by the door" thing, I don't really like this.<p>When I'm in a pub, I'm generally not on my phone, and I'm quite conscious of trying not to use it unless I'm sat waiting for someone or similar. However, I always have a phone with me in case of emergencies (which means being reached, not just making calls out), and I'd hate the idea of that being blocked.<p>Not just that, but I'm often on-call (with either a phone or pager) but will still go out and socialise, in this situation this establishment is one that has to be avoided.<p>Good idea/sentiment, bad execution.
Its a neat gimmick, I'll give him that. I do deeply dislike the claim we've forgotten how to socialise though, I'm willing to bet that people said the same thing when home phones became a thing, and doubtless back when papers and pen started to be available people were claiming that the writing of letters was going to prevent socialising. Times change, lets embrace that!
Unfortunately, I would be unable to patronise their establishment. If the babysitter calls, I need to be able to answer.<p>I would fully endorse and patronise a facility that had a policy like: "If that call or text is so important you need to answer it immediately, we'll assist you out of the facility so that you can deal with the emergency."