Just to comment since I see a lot of people experiencing confusion with the mayor.
It does seem like the mayor's affinity milestones were changed. Guides for previous versions list specific steps to get affinity 4 and be his friend (for access to Robin) before moving on to later chapters. However even if you follow the optimal steps now, it says that you aren't close enough to the mayor to talk to him in the tavern. That includes doing the potion quest, choosing the correct deal option, giving him the correct letters and choosing the option that increases his affinity the most.
I assume it's because you have to get the Gold Tunstead wine from Hartlepool and gift it to him as it hints towards giving him some kind of gift in the built-in flowchart, but this wasn't previously the case.