Raise a glass with Glynn Davis, co-owner of Bohem Brewery

The banter was not as forthcoming and interactions were sparser. This wasn't because of what you are probably thinking – Covid-19 has cowered people into their shells. No, it was the mobile phone. Of course, the device had been around on many of my previous visits, but this time it seemed much more destructive in getting in the way of conversation – or craic as the Irish like to call bar-room banter.

Rather in the same way the reading of newspapers on London Underground has been largely replaced by people staring down at their phones, the ability to chat when sat around the bar seems to have been usurped by widespread, zombie-like immersion in the small screen. Such activity when undertaken by everyone around the bar can lead to a morgue-like atmosphere. At the Pony Bar in New York's Upper East Side, the server informed me that her shifts nowadays involve significantly less chat with drinkers than used to be the case.

Bohem is looking for a second bar or pub within which to showcase its range of authentic Czech lagers, and one of the concerns the business owners have is that a larger unit might lose some of the atmosphere we've been able to enjoy at the small tap room that is in operation in North London.

It is so compact (maximum capacity 25 people) that even with phones prevalent it is almost impossible not to engage with fellow drinkers. This is also enhanced by barman and trained tapster Marek, who knows the majority of people who walk through the door and seamlessly helps the conversation flow across the room. Retaining these components, which make visiting a bar so uniquely worthwhile, are very much in our thoughts as we look to expand the business. Having the new site buzzing with chat rather than WhatsApp messages is very much what we are looking for.