Saturday nights in Pubs are generally a bit noisier and crowded than weeknights. And if you are not prepared for this then I suggest you stay at home watch telly and have a few cans. However on Saturday 21st November I visited a local hostelry in Ringsend. There were approximately thirty customers having a drink, chatting away and enjoying themselves.

There was music for different tastes, a mixture from the seventies, eighties and nineties, playing at a level that could be heard while allowing for conversation. I was enjoying my pint and reading my paper - the ambience and atmosphere was spot on.

However all this tranquillity went out the window when a number of yobs arrived. You didn’t have to see them to know they had arrived, a verbal assault with expletives such as the F word, the C word and the B word was audible throughout the premises. I would dare to suggest that the roars and shouts could be heard on the street outside.

I was having none of this “out of order” behaviour. I put my jacket on, folded my paper and brought the fresh pint I had just been given back to the bar. I requested a refund. I was refused. I asked to see the manager, he also refused a refund.

He asked me “ what is wrong with the pint?” I replied that the pint was fine, and pointed out that the atmosphere had become threatening and abusive. He still refused me a refund. While not acceding to my request he was at the same time challenging these yobs to behave.

They continued relentlessly. The manager said he would bar them unless they changed their attitude. The salient point at issue here is that a drink is just that, a drink. However people who wish to have a drink usually choose a bar or lounge which they like for a variety of reasons. So I would challenge the manager and his contention that if the pint is OK then that’s all that matters.

It most certainly is not.