Real ale fan's world record pub crawl surpasses 24,000 bars

Telegraph

a day ago

A real ale fan who has spent more than 40 years on the world's longest pub crawl has reached his 24,000th establishment.
Peter Hill and his friends vowed to broaden their drinking horizons in 1984 and have since travelled 400,000 miles in search of new pubs.
The West Bromwich-based Black Country Ale Tairsters have cemented their place in the record books by ticking off every pub in Wales, having a pint on 69 islands around the UK and visiting an average of 11 pubs every week.
Mr Hill, who toasted his 69th birthday by raising a glass in the Elephant & Castle, in Dudley last month, said the pub crawl had been a 'great adventure'.
He said: 'I'm not sure if I'll ever stop, as I still really enjoy it. There's still hundreds of pubs to go, so I'll keep on going while I can.
'There's a little group of us who go, the numbers have gone up and down as people have got married, sometimes I just go by myself.
'We used to get a little drunk in the early days but it's more of a mature hobby now and I always take it easy and pace myself. We don't drink to excess.'
The group was formed 41 years ago when they set out to visit 300 pubs listed on a map handed out by the local Banks brewery in Wolverhampton.
After completing the feat, the friends decided to carry on with the added incentive of raising money for charity – devising challenges each one more ambitious than the last.
Mr Hill has kept 280 arch-lever files logging every pub, including pictures, menus and other memorabilia.
The retired engineer said: 'We just got a bit bored of going to the same old place and it was my dad's idea to start visiting 300 from a Bank's map of Wolverhampton pubs.
'Then we sort of said 'shall we get to 1,000?' Then it was 2,000, then 3,000 and it just never stopped from there.
'We set a world record for the longest pub crawl but it was never about that. I'm just enjoying my life while trying to raise a bit of money for charity.
'I prefer the old-fashioned traditional boozers, just a couple of rooms and a warm welcome is very important.'
Mr Hill has raised £35,000 for good causes over the years, including his local children's hospital and the Air Ambulance.
When Mr Hill and co reached their 20,000th pub in 2017 they set a new Guinness World Record for the Longest Pub Crawl.
'Its sad to see so many pubs struggling, the price of the beer doesn't help – you can pay £7 a pint and even over a tenner for some of these fancy craft ales,' he said, adding: 'I'm trying to do my bit to keep the pub scene alive.
'I'll keep going until the beer runs out.'