'I've drunk in 5,000 pubs and I'm not stopping here'

A former pub landlord says he has visited more than 5,000 watering holes across the nation - in an effort to boost the British pub industry.

Dale Harvey, from Nottingham, set off on a challenge to visit every pub in the UK about three years ago as part of "the Great British Pub Crawl".

Since then, the 44-year-old says he has visited 5,077 boozers - more than 500 of which he said had since closed down.

He said he hoped the "journey like no other" would not only "put money in tills", but encourage other people to go to a pub they might not have visited before.

Joined on his travels by partner Holly Booth, 32, Mr Harvey chronicles his trips on social media, where he shares selfies outside the pubs he visits on a daily basis.

He said: "We got really tired of going around and seeing good pub buildings closed down and all boarded up, so we said as a hobby let's see how many pubs we can get round.

"All I wanted to do is set out on the mission to try and visit as many pubs as we could and put a bit of money in their tills.

"It's become my full-time job now; I'm out doing it four days a week. I will keep going until there's no more pubs left to visit which hopefully will never be the case because there's new ones opening all the time."

Mr Harvey's venture started off as the Great Nottinghamshire Pub Crawl in March 2022, but he extended the challenge nationwide after conquering every inn in the county.

He said big breweries and large companies were partly to blame for the closure of pubs, and said companies that ran pub chains needed to do more to help the people running them.

"I went into the pub trade when I was 16 years old," Mr Harvey said. "I've been in and around pubs ever since and I know that as a landlord and a licensee it becomes your entire way of life.

"It's such a shame for people who have done everything to create a great community hub to just lose it.

"Pubs are more than places to drink alcohol, they are the heartbeat of the community. If we lose the British pub, it would be catastrophic."

Last year, the British Beer and Pub Association revealed that landlords make 12p profit per pint, with the average price of a pint of draught lager costing £4.79, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Mr Harvey said the crawl would not stop until "there are no more pubs left to visit".

"It's the best job in the world," he added. "I get to meet people and explore places I'd never even knew existed before I started. I can't wait to keep on going!"

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