Black Country Ale Tairsters marathon pub man up for new challenges
An ale enthusiast who has visited more than 20,000 pubs across the country can now boast he has had a pint in virtually every pub in the Midlands.
Peter Hill has pulled off the impressive achievement of visiting a mammoth 11,897 pubs many counties around central England.
It has taken the 61-year-old from West Bromwich 33 years to visit 11,897 pubs in the region.
Early this year, the Black Country Ale Tairsters which he founded in 1984, visited its record-breaking 20,000th pub.
The group has now been to 20,235 pubs around the country.
The ale enthusiasts have done it all for charity and raised thousands of pounds in the process.
Peter said: "I have visited 11,897 pubs in the Midlands. That is almost all of them been, but a few new ones have since opened up that I have to visit.
"I have also visited every pub in Wales and a total of 20,235 across the country.
"Between where I live and the Irish Sea, there isn't a pub I haven't been to."
Peter raises money for charity by asking staff from each pub to donate a small sum of cash.
He said: "I ask them for a £1. Some give me £1, some £2 and some £5."
He wears a custom made waistcoat on his travels, which his partner of 29 years made for him from bar towels sewn together.
The coat has a colourful array of badges pinned to it, which proves a talking point when Peter goes into new pubs.
Peter is now retired, having been an engineer, and has two children.
He keeps a record of his journeys in a room at his house where dozens of folders are stacked on shelves.
"I have records from pub number one right the way through to 20,235.
Peter limits how much he drinks each year to 1,500 pints per year.
He travels to pubs across the country with the help of his friends from the Black Country Ale Tairsters.
"I can pick up to 20 people to come along with me," he said.
The group collectively raise money for charity.
Peter has travelled to pubs across Birmingham and the Black Country in the West Midlands as well as Staffordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Rutland.
He drives down to each pub from his home in West Bromwich.
But is that expensive on fuel? "Blimey, I have travelled 300,000 miles, so regarding cost in petrol, work that one out," he said.
Peter spent seven years visiting all the pubs in Wales, and he has dedicated the last two years to Nottinghamshire.
In total, Peter has raised more than £24,000 for various charity from his pub visits.
He now plans to visit the new pubs in the Midlands which he has missed while travelling about.
Peter is also aiming to visit pubs in counties which are further afield.
