Gareth Murphy, from Caernarfon, Wales has broken the record for the most pubs visited in 24 hours (individual).
The 29-year-old IT worker drank at 56 different pubs in Cardiff city centre on 5 February 2022, breaking the previous pub crawl record of 51 set by Englishman Matt Ellis in 2021.
For the purposes of this record, a pub is defined as an establishment licensed to sell alcoholic beverages on the premises, although the challenger is not required to consume any alcohol.
In addition to video evidence of the full attempt, a logbook must be signed by an employee at each pub to confirm that a drink has been purchased and consumed.
Over the course of the day, Gareth consumed:
- 4,915 ml (8.6 pints) of orange juice
- 2,845 ml (5 pints) of apple juice
- 1,023 ml (1.8 pints) of beer
- 500 ml (0.8 pints) of lemonade
- 284 ml (0.5 pints) of Diet Pepsi®
- 250 ml (0.4 pints) of Tango®
- 189 ml (0.33 pints) of blackcurrant cordial
- 125 ml (0.2 pints) of Coca-Cola®
- 125 ml (0.2 pints) of Guinness®
- 125 ml (0.2 pints) of cranberry juice
“I lost count of how many toilet breaks I took. At the beginning it was minimal, once every 10 pubs say, but by the end, I think I was going once every two or three pubs.” – Gareth Murphy
Gareth had been trying to achieve a Guinness World Records title for several years before attempting this particular challenge.
Upon reading about Matt Ellis’ record-breaking pub crawl, Gareth was confident he could beat it, so he decided to give it a go.
“I knew the best place to do this was in the centre of Cardiff," he said.
Cardiff’s city centre has the highest density of pubs, bars and clubs in the entire UK, with over 300 licensed premises in a 0.5 square mile area.
Gareth began by drafting the route he would take, but he didn’t end up sticking to it due to some pubs being “unexpectedly closed or opening later."
His first drink was 125 ml of lemonade in a Wetherspoons at 10 a.m. Gareth said he had no initial tactic regarding what he would drink, “just whichever went down the easier.”
“However, as the day went on, I did notice that apple juice went down better than orange juice.”
Gareth’s favourite drink is “a good, cold pint of Guinness,” although he had to limit himself to just 125 ml during this record attempt.
“I knew I had to stay off the Guinness as it’s quite a heavy drink. I did have a beer in a few select pubs, but I knew I couldn’t overdo it as I knew the fizz would immediately make me bloated.”
At 8 p.m., Gareth equalled Matt Ellis’ record of 51 pubs and celebrated with 250 ml of orange-flavoured Tango®.
Gareth marched on to visit five more pubs before calling it a night at 9:26 p.m. in another Wetherspoons.
With a much more bloated belly than when he began, Gareth had officially set a new pub crawl world record with 56 pubs visited.
“It was a long, tiring day. The hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he said.
“The hardest part by far was the bloatedness of drinking so much. It didn’t help that I can’t make myself burp either.”
Gareth has put his Guinness World Records certificate up on a shelf at home where it takes pride of place.
“It made all the hard work and preparation worth it. It feels great to achieve something like this.”
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