Britain's most committed PUB-CRAWLERS chalk off their 20,000th boozer after three decades
BRITAIN'S most committed pub-crawlers have chalked off their 20,000th boozer three decades after setting off to tour just 300 inns listed on a brewery map.
Black Country Ale Tairsters toasted their milestone at the Knot and Plough in Stafford
Members of the Black Country Ale Tairsters - who dossed down in a graveyard following their inaugural visit to a pub in Wales in 1984 - arrived in a minibus to toast their latest milestone at the Knot and Plough in Stafford.
The group's co-founder Pete Hill was among those who considered calling time on the epic odyssey in 1985 after successfully ticking off hundreds of ale houses run by Wolverhampton-based Banks's.
But the friends decided to press on - darkening the door of more than 1,000 pubs in Herefordshire and Worcestershire before embarking on a tour of Britain's coastline and then every bar in Wales.
Last May when we'd done 19,000 I took my lump sum out of my pension to get to 20,000 and I have spent the bloody lot
As more than a dozen members of the group raised a glass to their 20,000th pub, Mr Hill celebrated with a pint of Marston's 61 Deep pale ale.
The retired engineer - whose father Joe died in 2014 after fulfilling his ambition of "conquering" Wales - has knocked back 46,632 pints during the Tairsters' journey.
The 60-year-old said: "Last May when we'd done 19,000 I took my lump sum out of my pension to get to 20,000 and I have spent the bloody lot.
Their 10,000th pub was Ropewalk in Birmingham in 2001
"Today is a bit emotional to be honest because it was my dad's ambition to get to 20,000 and it would have been his birthday tomorrow."
Mr Hill, who has collected around £24,000 for charity from licensees around Britain by asking for a £1 donation at each pub, joked: "I am the Samuel Pepys of my day.
"On every pub crawl everything is documented - from the beers in the pub to the decor.
"Every detail is recorded."
The unofficial group leader regards an ability to drink a gallon of beer as a minimum requirement for membership and advises drinkers to make a will before joining up.
Zombie Pub Crawl 2014
The 5000th pub they visited was The New Inn, Blisthill in 1993
He said: "You never know when you might go the way of Oliver Reed.
"He's the hero - though I try not to go over 1,500 pints a year.
"If I'm in danger of going over the annual limit I stop in for a couple of days.
"And I had to keep to my local for the past two weeks to make sure today was the 20,000th different pub."
The West Bromwich-based Tairsters (Black Country dialect for tasters) moved its focus to 12 Midlands counties in 1991 before embarking on a seven-year tour of Wales in 2006.
Several veterans of the group, including stalwarts John Drew, 53, and 72-year-old Malcolm Maynard, attended the event at the Knot and Plough, where they were given free beer.
A spokesman for Marston's, which runs the two-year-old pub, said: "Pete and his friends' journey is a brilliant achievement.
"The fact he's raised thousands for good causes while having a great time is a tribute to him and the Great British pub."
They celebrated their 30 year long pub crawl
MR HILL'S TOP THREE PUBS IN BRITAIN
Royal Oak Inn, Delph, near Oldham, Lancs. Number 19,568
The Goose and Cuckoo Inn, Llanover, near Abergavenny, Wales. Number 13,302
Stein Inn, Stein, Isle of Sky. Number 18,281