‘I'm on a mission to save Britain's pubs – by drinking at every one in the country'

Telegraph

24-02-2025

A former pub landlord is on a one-man mission to save the hospitality industry – by drinking at every pub in Britain.
Dale Harvey, 44, from Nottingham, began his quest in 2022, putting in '11-hour shifts' four days a week and so far visiting 5,000 establishments.
Mr Harvey said he's made 'friends for life' on a 'journey like no other' and has dubbed the challenge 'The Great British Pub Crawl'.
Admitting that it would be 'in no way sustainable' to have a pint everywhere, he said he 'just does halves.'
Mr Harvey said he averages around 20 pubs per 'shift', and therefore 10 pints per day.
He has sipped his way from Edinburgh to Penzance, but said his motivations are not just to 'get drunk'. Instead, he hopes to support a struggling industry.
Having worked in pubs all his life, climbing his way up from pot washer to landlord, Mr Harvey had a front row seat for the industry's economic decline.
Between 2000 and 2019, the UK lost 13,600 pubs. The process was accelerated by the Covid pandemic, with 769 shutting their doors in 2023, followed by a further 400 in 2024.
According to The Guardian, there are now around 39,000 pubs in the UK.
Mr Harvey said he was 'fed up with seeing beautiful pubs boarded up or burnt out.
'Every town you go to you see three or four of them.
'So I thought, let's try and support the industry, and put a bit of money in the tills.'
As well as sampling the wares, Mr Harvey also documents his journey around Britain's pubs on social media.
'It wasn't until around pub 100 that a mate told me to put my journey on social media.
'I told him people wouldn't be interested but he said you'd be surprised, and it's spiralled out of control since then.'
Mr Harvey now boasts more than 110,000 followers on Facebook and said he has heard from landlords who gained new customers through his videos.
In the beginning, Mr Harvey paid for the drinks out of his own pocket, but his new-found internet fame has allowed him to monetise his journey and even release his own merchandise line.
Mr Harvey is joined on many of his trips by his partner Holly Booth and said everyone they have come across is 'so friendly', although he noted that Londoners 'tend to just ignore you'.
'The Government needs to do more'
Mr Harvey struggled to choose his favourite watering hole but gave a special mention to Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, a historic pub in his home town of Nottingham.
He also said Liverpool is the best city to drink in, 'by far.'
He struggled less when naming his least favourite pub, however, confidently claiming it was the Blue Bell in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire.
'It only had patio furniture inside, there was a guy asleep on the table, a random pram in the middle of the bar with no baby, and every interior glass panel was smashed.'
He said that particular establishment closed three weeks after he visited.
'People need to do more, the Government needs to do more.
'This is not me blaming the current Government as the last government didn't do anything for hospitality either.
'But it's only the current Government that can make the changes.'
'If breweries or pubs get a business rate hike in the Budget, customers are going to have to pay more and it will cripple the industry.
'Something needs to be done and it needs to be done really quickly.
'Support your local independent breweries and pubs. If not, we're going to lose them.'