you don't even question how fanciful it is to hear not one, not two but three blatant examples of racism at a bar?

Mate, it's not fanciful. Those are conversations I was listening to, in the vault, in my local, after work last night between about 6.30 and 9ish. Sky news was on and that's what they were commenting on.

If you think it doesn't go on you're either lying to yourself or you only go to place where everyone sounds like yourself.

I've been going in that pub for about 20 years, that type of language around the bar has never changed. Different people come and go but the opinions stay the same.

It's not just "knuckle dragging racists" either. You might be surprised. Last night there was a nursery school teacher in with her mate who is a primary teacher, an old retired guy, a guy who I don't really know what he does but he either owns rental properties or manages them for someone else, a couple of students - one of them just finished doing law at liverpool and so on. I could go on but the point is it's people that look just like me and you, it's not the nutty skinheads you see on telly with their doc martin boots and their swastika flags.

It's perfectly normal people but this is what they really think about immigration and multiculturalism.

And it's not just this pub. I could go 5 minutes up the road to another one where I know for a fact I'd be hearing the exact same things, I used to work there and it's not changed. And then five minutes from that one I could show you another one that will be the same.

Of course, I could find you a nice quiet little "family" pub where you won't hear those things. Or I could go up the road to the little 'village' full of overpriced cafe bars that open up and close down every six months. You won't hear that kind of thing up there because it's one of the biggest areas of guardian readers in the country.

To deny that these places exist and these views are very very common though is lying to yourself.