I have just arrived home absolutely furious. For the last few months I’ve been going to the Wetherspoons in Lewisham. It’s a reasonable little place not far from Eltham, which I could get to easily for my once a week pub visit. I had taken to going there every Saturday, and I think the staff there were fairly used to me. They knew I like to drink Leffe in a pint glass, and were fine to rince my straw before I left,

However, for some reason this afternoon things were different. I rolled in there at about five, expecting to see a face i recognised and be taken to a table as usual. Yet today I got a totally different response: nobody seemed to be helping me. I got myself to a table and waited for a staff member, only to be told that I would not be served as I didn’t have a “carer” with me.

I was quite taken aback by this: I had never been told that I needed someone there with me in the past. Ordinarily I’d sit there for an hour or so drinking two or three pints of Leffe, arrange payment without issue, then get the bus home in time for dinner. I couldn’t work out what the problem was this evening. I sat there for twenty minutes or half an hour, hoping to be served but steadily losing my patience. I asked to speak to the manager repeatedly, only to be ignored.

In the end I’m slightly ashamed to admit I called it quits and left. Needless to say I felt furious and still do. All I wanted was a pint or two, just like any other guy on a Saturday afternoon. Frankly it felt like I had been overtly discriminated against: after all, they would never refuse to serve anyone due to the colour of their skin, so why was I denied service because I’m disabled? Needless to say, I now intend to contact Wetherspoons head office over this.