To feel like pub staff should not turn a blind eye to inappropriate comments?

Unfortunately, they need these people to remain viable as a business.

They piss off you? Well, you're unlikely to be coming back anyway. They piss off the locals? Then they're going to be losing thousands upon thousands of quid.

This is freedom of speech in action.
If you can't tolerate what's being said, you can either challenge it yourself, or leave the pub.
Don't expect the staff to sanction their locals (who probably keep the place going) for the sake of tourists who will be gone next week.

Very weird that this happened in every single pub you set foot in.

However, speaking from the perspective of someone who has done a lot of bar work:

• Some pub staff won't say anything because they don't themselves think it's a problem and this is the usual vibe in that pub.
• Some pub staff won't say anything because it's not their job to police conversations between customers - they might intervene if the customer says something to them or is harassing another customer directly, but don't feel it's their role to tell customers what they can and can't say to their mates.
• Some pub landlords/managers expect their staff to put up with this sort of behaviour because 'the customer is always right' according to them and these sorts of customers are probably regulars who spend a lot of money.
• Some pub staff won't say anything because they fear the likely confrontation if they do, and can't face a long debate with a man they can't actually get away from and who knows where they work.

Ultimately, the landlord/manager needs to empower the staff to deal with these situations, but often they don't because those regulars are keeping the pub afloat.

I haven't done bar work for a long time now and when I did, having to listen to vile people on occasion without being able to do much about it was the worst part of my job.

So who decides what is acceptable or not? Are the staff the verbalising police or other customers?

Don't be daft OP. Bar staff are not paid to police political options.

Who is to sit in judgement of what's "inappropriate" anyway? You might think an opinion or joke funny, I might be offended and vise versa.

You sound like a fan of Big Brother (the novel, not the asinine TV show). Bet your thoughts and opinions are the "correct" ones aren't they 🙄

Whilst I agree that it’s unfair to expect young people on minimum wage jobs to tackle ‘misogynistic/racist people with a penis’, I don’t see why the pub owners/landlord couldn’t deal with it?

But… if you go to places like Weatherspoons and similar dives, that’s the sort of clientele you’ll bump into. Sadly, openly racist views are more freely aired since Brexit and ordinary folk are afraid to call them out because bizarrely, they’ll be viewed as the bad guys. 🤷🏻‍♀️

It's you. You aren't entitled to expect people on NMW in a pub to take risks. If you want a more policed environment, pay for it. It's fine to be annoyed that a staff member told your DH to 'cheer up' but other than that, no.

I say that as someone who used to argue with this kind of thing all the time when I worked in a pub in the 00s. But then we had security.

It's not the bar staff or managers job to police it!

@LaurenSw yep sure, bar staff are going to piss their locals off in favour of a one off tourist,I don't suppose they need their jobs. I suggest you holiday somewhere different if every pub there is full of sexist, racist locals 🙄

We were in the Lakes and the one pub we went to also had a chortling, offensive local!

Think they’re a staple of any pub. All the pubs I’ve worked in over the years have had them and I’d only ever intervene if they were being inappropriate. I think it depends on the circumstances. Our offensive local was plastered at 2pm and making sexually explicit comments to the guy behind me who had his daughter with him. That to me is not acceptable and if I were the barmaid & knew about it I’d have had a word. Staff know how to handle the regulars. If it was in the evening and someone had their kids in an adult environment and they overheard 18+ comments then that’s a different story.

Offensive people get away with it because people don’t want to get involved. Be offensive, just don’t do it around kids or at lunch time!

In an ideal world, everyone should do more to call these things out!

Unfortunately, in the world we live in, we have to consider our safety and whether we keep our jobs/customers

Where it is safe for me to do so, I will; especially if I am part of a bigger group. But sometimes you have to weigh up the risk and if it could put you in danger, bite your tongue or just hard stare

A lot of bar workers are young and inexperienced so would not know how to deal with it (although when dd worked in a bar she would have said something!)

It would be good to see more landlords put up signs applauding freedom of speech, but reminding people any racist, ageist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic etc. comments are insulting to other patrons and not welcome

It depends on where you think freedom of thought and expression should end.

Do you want to live in a society where you are free to think and say what you're thinking; or do you want someone else to decide what you can think and what you are allowed to say?

I might not like way you have to say, but I would absolutely defend your right to say it. Otherwise, who gets to decide which opinions are "right"?

The Russians tried that in the past, it didn't work out. So did the East Germans, North Korea is doing a blinding job of it at the moment . . . .

A new Workers' Rights Bill addresses harassment by third parties. Seems a bit dubious to me as women talking about their rights have been told to leave pubs because they are deemed 'offensive' by the bar staff. Slippery slope etc.
freespeechunion.org/pubs-could-curb-free-speech-to-avoid-legal-risks-under-labours-workers-rights-bill/

It's a bit like expecting retail staff to deal with shoplifters - why should they risk they're own wellbeing to deal with miscreants?

A landlord would tend to be older and be able to handle the regulars - plus regulars know they're at the mercy of the LL as he can ban them if he wishes to.

Bar staff are there to serve customers and not police what they are saying unless they were being loud and obnoxious towards a particular person, then they could ask the LL to deal with the situation.

Drink loosens tongues and there are horrible people everywhere, not just in the pub.

I think you’re asking a lot of, often very young, bar staff to tackle someone like this. It can be very intimidating being behind the bar when something unpleasant starts to kick off.

Where were you staying OP?

Was it an area where the boats carrying immigrants arrive?

YABU to expect staff on minimum wage to start picking battles with rude customers- they quite literally are not paid enough to care. Not their job.

A pub that intervenes in its customers’ conversations to ‘correct’ them isn’t likely to stay in business for long. If it’s not to your taste, move on.

There’s a very blokey bar near my former workplace. Casual misogyny, sexism, crappy ‘banter’. I didn’t like it so I voted with my feet. I didn’t expect the bar staff to make a stand; they are just trying to earn a living.

He’s the landlord not an employee.

It’s not up to minimum wage bar employees to stop it. If they attempted to police what regular paying customers say they’d very soon be fired.

I don't think you can expect bar tenders, waiters and waitresses to be policing their customers speech. If you are going into pubs that appear to be full of old git racists & sexists, then you are in the wrong pub. Take your custom and money somewhere else.

Twas ever thus.
These types we used to call barnacles.

So racist abuse should be allowed

Are you new to freedoms of expression?

if you don’t like the patrons of a pub, choose another one. That’s the genius of the system of pubs.

Staff aren’t there to police people except when they become too drunk.