Pair visit 18,000 pubs over three decades

It has taken them 30 years and 36,000 pints, but a pair of committed pub patrons can finally lay claim to having completed the world’s longest pub crawl visiting their 18,000th this week.

Black Country Ale Tairsters: Flickr

The Black Country Ale Tairsters were formed in 1984 made up of twenty friends who had become bored of drinking in the same pub each week and set about visiting a different watering hole each week, as reported by The Metro.

The 30-year pub crawl has seen the friends drive more than 250,000 miles drinking an estimated 36,000 pints between them, and last year complete a seven-year mission to visit every pub in Wales – all 11,000 of them.

Today, just two hardened members remain, Peter Hill, 59, and 61-year-old John Drew, who visited their 18,000th pub this week.

Mr Hill, from West Bromwich, said: “Although it may be a big surprise to people, we’re not massive drinkers. We just love pubs and everything about them. We also keep a record of the pubs we go to by taking a photo of the pub, inside and out, and make a note of anything special about the place. It turned from a bit of fun to a serious hobby. I intend to visit every pub I can, although I’ll soon be 60 and I wonder where all the years have gone.”

Hill has collected 150 boxes of pub memorabilia over the group’s 30-year crawl, raising some £18,000 for a children’s hospital in the process having asked each pub they visit to donate £1.

Their achievement comes at a time when UK pub closures have reached 31 per week, according to the Campaign for Real Ale, prompting the organisation to launch its Pubs Matter campaign. The campaign is urging the government to change the law in England so a planning application is always required before a pub is demolished or converted into another use.