Billy Bob’s Myerscough — Restaurant in Borough of Wyre

We’ve been to Billy Bob’s in Myerscough many times, and overall, it’s a fantastic place for a family outing. The food is consistently excellent, and most of the staff are amazing—friendly, welcoming, and clearly working hard in what can be a very busy environment. The dining experience has a great vibe, and even when it’s packed, the service and quality never seem to slip. That says a lot.

However, where things start to fall short is in the outdoor children’s play area. There seems to be a lot of confusion—and inconsistency—about the rules. In the past, we’ve been able to purchase a timed wristband upon arrival, even during our meal, and then get another time slot if the kids wanted to go back out. This matched what’s still stated on the website: that booked-in diners have priority. But lately, that doesn’t seem to be how things actually work.

The outdoor play area has taken on a strange, almost authoritarian tone. I get that it’s stressful for the staff—especially during peak times—but the way the rules are enforced lacks clarity and warmth. When I asked about play access and dining etiquette, I was met with a surprisingly passive-aggressive tone from the staff member at the entrance. I was told (rather curtly) that the rules were in the terms and conditions of the confirmation email. That struck me as unnecessarily harsh—this isn’t a corporate contract, it’s just a family lunch with some playtime for the kids.

What’s more, it was very unclear how long we were allowed to stay at our table after eating. Are we supposed to vacate immediately if the kids go play? If it’s quiet, there’s space to sit and watch, but when it’s busy, you end up standing around outside with no option to order drinks or relax. I offered to buy multiple wristbands to cover the kids’ time, but was told, “That’s just not how it works here, pal.” Not helpful.

The issue here isn’t the policy—it’s the communication. The rules need to be clearly explained at the time of booking, especially if they’ve changed. That vague “dining guests have priority” line doesn’t reflect the reality. On the day we visited, I saw multiple parents turned away, confused and frustrated—kids in tears, tempers fraying. It just doesn’t need to be that way.

To be clear, I genuinely feel sorry for the staff, who are left to deal with all of this tension. It seems like poor management of the policy rollout and communication, and it places both customers and frontline staff in uncomfortable positions.

Billy Bob’s is brilliant in so many ways—but this play area policy is a real weak spot, and unless it’s addressed with clarity and fairness, it will keep spoiling otherwise great...

We are regulars at Billy Bobs and take our 3 year old to enjoy the play area. She loves it. The price is good at £3 and it’s great value for the money. We’ve seen it expand over recent years and it’s thriving. However, today was very disappointing. We’ve always just turned up and paid to get in. Today we were denied access for 25mins as we hadn’t pre-booked, despite the play area not being overly busy, but more importantly they stressed that we hadn’t eaten in the restaurant to gain access privilege.

The option for food/drink AFTER a play session is ideal and it works well not only for us, but I’d imagine for the majority of people. We were told that priority to get into the play area is for those who eat. We were effectively shoehorned into sitting in the restaurant and to wait for 25mins, obviously to entice us to spend money in the restaurant. Basically we were more or less manipulated to buy food or drink and then we could access the play area. This has never been a thing in all of the times we’ve been down in the last couple of years.

The entrance to the play area is now shut from the carpark and to get to the entrance you’ve got to go through the restaurant now (of course).

The staff were polite, no issues there, and explained the technicalities to us, but we were disappointed and quite frankly felt like it was a bit of con.

My 3 year old was frustrated and having driven over 16 miles to get to it, it was stressful and frustrating. I’m going to wage a guess that this new ruling will not be popular and could potentially lose money for the business over the longer term.

Just to add to this to make the experience even more frustrating, the supervision of the indoor barn area where the slides are - It was non-existent. Kids were walking up and down the slides stopping people and some kids of having a go. When I attempted to take my daughter down one slide, I had to literally hold my hands out mid-way down at full speed to stop the momentum in order to miss a girl who was just stood in the middle messing around. I almost collided with her and I would’ve hurt that girl badly if I hadn’t stopped. She’d have gone flying! In the process, I’ve bruised and scratched my arm due to the friction burns.

Myself and my family have no intention of returning anytime soon and if we did, we now know you have to book in advance (Covid restrictions similarly). So bear that in mind if you’re think of going there.

It’s a shame as it’s a cracking setup, but regrettably I felt the need to make this review today. I hope this business comes to its senses and changes the policy quickly and supervises the barn area better. It...

For what it is, you can’t fault it!

All American experience from the decor, fencing outside and music which is played around the site, even the toilets were American porcelain!

Feels a little theme-park-like for my personal taste and is likely more of a special treat destination rather than a regular. Couple of kids parties were going on while we were there in the ‘party houses’ and it would be a great destination for this - plenty of space and options for siblings etc to play.

Staff were very on point from the moment we walked in directing us to the play area and forewarning us that they were fully booked after 11am (Sunday).

Play area was good, lots of wooden climbing vehicles (tractor, boat, helicopter, bus, arc, train etc) all with slides down them, seating for parents, couple large swings, large play barn with slides that you grab a rug to go down, couple of zip lines, and loads of rope swings so you could swing form one side of the straw bales to another - better for older kids and saw a few adults testing it out too! £3 for our 2yr old for 1hr which was reasonable. Cafe hatch too there but didn’t use.

Then went for food in main restaurant, extensive American menu, very generous proportions and saw many leftover food boxes being taken away. Too much for us and felt it was slightly expensive but probably justified by the experience of the place rather than the quality of the food. On that note - portion sizes already mentioned but also my bagel was dry and broke apart as I was trying to eat it…I’ve had better food but that’s not the aim here.

Probably wouldn’t rush back ourselves but if you like American food then this is your place! I will tell others who have travelled America about it.

For me, I’d have liked it to be slightly quieter (even though we also had a toddler and baby, it was hard to hear my other half in conversation), I think due to music playing overhead and lots of excited kids on the next table. Some natural plants might have balanced out the neon lighting, plastic fencing and commercial signage art going on, including outside but is just a personal note for anyone else of a similar disposition! :-) in more plan English, it wasn’t much of a relaxing experience but honestly couldn’t fault it! Just a certain vibe to be aware of before you go .

Overall a good stop on our journey to let off some toddler steam and get some food.

Just to add; we had beef bagel, double cheeseburger, side chips, full stack Nutella banana pancakes, coffees x2, water, apple juice, kids Mac cheese, 1x milkshake, and it cost about £70.

Maybe study the menu before you arrive, it’s...