The story begins in 1984.
“What it was, it was me and my dad,” said Peter Hill, by video call. “He had this map with 250 pubs mainly in the Black Country area, with some in Wales.”
So began Hill’s passion for visiting pubs and documenting them. The retired maintenance engineer, together with his father, visited every one of the 250 pubs on that map. In hindsight, it was a relatively easy task, given that Hill lives in West Bromwich in the Black Country, in the West Midlands of England, and now travels extensively to continue his pub quest.
That first map completed, Hill and his father found a new map, with 1,007 pubs marked in Bedfordshire and Worcestershire. They visited every one of those pubs, too.
The duo kept visiting pubs, along with a couple of mates and the four of them were recognized by Guinness World Records in 2008 for most pubs visited in a pub crawl. At that time, the team had visited a mere 14,000 pubs.
Hills pursuit of pubs is similar to, and yet very different from an American beer enthusiast’s mission to visit breweries.
The Pub Crawl Continues
Hill’s father has passed, but new friends have joined his pub-visiting group—though no one goes to all of the pubs Hill does, making him the undisputed pub king. But the group, known as the Black Country Ale Tairsters, a phonetic mocking of the way locals pronounce “tasters,” keeps Hill company on his travels.
Forty-two years since his pub passion began, Hill has now visited 24,400 different pubs.
The Quest For Real Ale
“As long as I can get a drink in there and don’t need to pay to get in or be a member, that’s a pub,” said Hill. That said, Hill gravitates to pubs that sell British real ale on hand pump. Real ale is a form of beer that is unfiltered and unpasteurized, continuing to condition in the cask from which it is served. It is so unique to Britain that a campaign is underway to secure UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage status for it. Although it has a long, British history, some breweries in the United States and elsewhere mimic the beer.
Because real ale continues to mature—and eventually deteriorate—in the cask, it requires careful management by the pub and its staff, and many pubs have abandoned the beers for easier-to-handle keg products. Along with efforts to secure UNESCO status, Britain’s Campaign For Real Ale (CAMRA) promotes the historic beer style, through lobbying, promotion and beer festivals lauding the beer.
CAMRA also annually publishes the Good Beer Guide, which lists pubs throughout Britain that meet standards of quality in the treatment and serving of real ale. During the video call, Hill held up the 2020 edition of the Good Beer Guide. “There’s 4,500 pubs in this book,” said Hill. “I’ve visited every one of them.”
Hill admits with a chuckle that if a pub does not serve real ale, “Guinness is a good reserve drink.”
The Quest
“I have to keep setting myself different targets,” said Hill. He set his sights on visiting every pub in every county of the Midlands. Done. Then he set out to visit every pub in Wales. Done.
Presently, Hill is trying to visit every island of Great Britain that has a pub on it. He says there are 69 of them.
Along the way, Hill has documented every pub he has visited, taking photographs, a card or a paper menu. He keeps the sourvenirs in 250 lever arch files. On the video call from Hill’s office, those files completely filled shelves behind him.
Raising A Pint For Charity
At each pub he visits, Hill simply asks the licensee to donate a pound. Almost all comply and many will give more. “Very rarely, a pub will give me a £20 note,” said Hill. In exchange for the small donation, Hill hands over a card, on which he certifies that he has visited, and indicating the exact number that pub visit constitutes.
Those few pounds from each pub add up. Visiting 24,400 pubs has allowed Hill to donate £36,320 to various charities, usually selected to help the area in which Hill is visiting pubs at the time.
The Importance Of Pubs
The local pub has historically been an important part of British culture. But pubs have been closing at an alarming rate. “Back in 1992, I put together a guide of my local pubs,” said Hill. “There were 93 pubs in the guide. But we’ve lost 60 of those pubs.”
“When we lose a pub, we lose contact with the friends you only see at that pub,” said Hill. “What happened to them? Do they go to a different pub now? Did they stop drinking?” Historically, pubs have been a third space for Brits and the loss of pubs has changed the way people gather.
One of the things Hill is proud of, is that his documentation of the pubs he has visited has become a sort of archive of many of these special gathering places that have now been lost.
The rise of smartphones and social media is in part to blame. Hill says the video call for this article was the first time he had used the technology. He prefers real life.
So, Hill continues to visit pubs. And he is excited that new generations seem to be coming back. “I’m after fun in my life,” he said. He estimates he is in a pub 95% of weekends. And now he is seeing younger people return.
“I see young kids—we’re talking about people in their 30s, who I consider kids,” Hill laughs, “I’m teaching them to play crib and dominoes.” Despite what outwardly may seem like an odd obsession, Hill’s passion for visiting pubs is a very human pursuit. He raises money for charity while connecting with friends, old and new.
