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Having a good chat – a bit of banter – in the pub has become increasingly difficult over the years.
Groups gathering beside the bar, dart boards and table skittles have nearly become extinct. Landlords increasingly set tables for food rather than cribbage and dominoes.
Soon, it seems, contentious debate and colourful conversation will also cease. The fear is that my views might be overheard by staff and cause personal offence.
New rules (Angela Rayner’s workers’ rights reforms) at cracking down on workplace harassment, protecting staff from third parties, could end discussion on a whole range of topics. Angela Rayner's Employment Rights Bill is the latest in a long line of misguided attempts to control speech and thought.
My initial reaction is this: when I worked in a pub, both as a student and much later when my family owned and ran a free house, you expected a level of boisterous debate and one or two outlandish opinions.
We didn't tolerate foul language, nor the harassment of staff, but we tolerated (within the boundaries of decency) a wide range of opinions; therefore, if you couldn't handle that, the pub wasn't for you. Similarly, if you can't face a room full of children, don't go into teaching. If you can't add and subtract, don't become an accountant.
The balance challenge in this latest legislation proposal is where do my rights as a customer with philosophical beliefs (as they apply under the Equalities Act) end, and the employees begin? Provided I don't overstep the line so far as decency is concerned, then I believe my mind is still my own.
To suggest that, if I’m talking to my wife or friends or the local MP, and disagreeing with on, for example, immigration, that this might be overheard and upset a passing member of staff is preposterous. I was talking to companions not addressing passers-by.
I also believe, as many people do, that a wide range of subjects should be open for discussion. I have discussed politics, the constitution, overseas footballers, friends' affairs, unruly children, poor teaching, sexuality, the royal family, the EU, and religion over a pint.
For me, the pub has always been a social hub, a debating chamber and a church, somewhere a discussion based on the freedom to exchange views and opinions can take place.
The modern trend in society is sad, not to say immensely frustrating - the freedoms of 99 people always seem at jeopardy from the opinions and perceived rights of one.
And, after the knock-on effect of rising prices and raising taxes, you can already hear the groans of frustration in the hospitality trade, and the closing of doors for the last time as more and more give up the fight.
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