Lessons for watching sports in England from the king of British pubs
Pubs play a huge part in British sporting culture, Sam Borden heads just outside London to meet the man who holds the world record for the most visited. (4:17)
FLITWICK, England — When you meet the man who is in the Guinness Book of World Records for having visited the most pubs — with a lifetime count of 51,784 and counting — one question immediately comes to mind.
OK, actually, a lot of questions immediately come to mind.
Thankfully, Bruce Masters, the 74-year-old retired rail worker who holds the record, is more than comfortable bellying up to a bar and chatting.
So, during a summer full of big sporting events in the United Kingdom during which locals and tourists will pack pubs to follow everything from the Cricket World Cup to Wimbledon to the England-USA semifinal in the Women’s World Cup on Tuesday, it seemed a perfect time to visit Bruce and learn about the famed English pub culture from a guy who has (just about) seen them all.
I met Bruce at The Swan, one of his hometown pubs, on a rainy afternoon, and I asked him about all of it: how he has been to so many pubs, why he has been to so many pubs, the money, the rules, the constant need to go to the bathroom, everything.
What follows, then, is a short FAQ about one man’s very long and very strange quest to pull a pint in as many places possible.
So, what would possess someone to visit more than 50,000 pubs? And what counts as a pub (or a visit)?
Bruce says he was just sitting in a pub having a drink one day — July 27, 1971, at The White Horse in Chilgrove, if you’re curious — when he was struck by the notion that, like some people enjoy trainspotting, he might enjoy pub-spotting. That evening, he developed some rules: any place where anyone could buy a drink without having to buy a meal or pay a cover charge counted, and if a pub was renamed, but stayed in the same location, it was ineligible for a return trip (Bruce keeps records on a really, really big spreadsheet).
Additionally, Bruce decided that a visit was only complete if he drank at least one alcoholic beverage inside. “Normally it’s a half (-pint),” he says. “But if I’ve got a long time between buses, it could be a full.”
That is … a lot of beer. How is this guy still standing up?
Although he’s not carded (being a septuagenarian and all), Bruce says he’s often mistaken for someone in their 60s — a fairly remarkable development when you consider that he spends much of his time either drinking, or riding a train or bus to get to a new place where he can drink.
In an attempt to explain his relatively trim frame, Bruce says, “I get a lot of exercise walking between pubs. And, obviously, drinking beer is good for you!”
He also notes that his tolerance is such that he can drink up to six or seven pints of beer per day, although “because I spread it out over the course of a day, I can still walk in a straight line. At least, I think.”
How much has this whole thing cost?
First of all, Bruce is helped by having worked for the British train system: he gets a rail card that allows him to travel all over the country for free, which reduces costs considerably.
That said, his best guess — accounting for the changing price of beer over the last half-century — is that he has spent roughly 120,000 British pounds, or more than $150,000, on beer during his journeys.
And no, he doesn’t regret it (not even a little). “I’ve already got a house, and what do you want two for?” he says. “I’ve had 47 years of enjoyment.”
What did he have to do to get into the book of world records?
Initially, Bruce says, he was “just collecting a great big number.” But once it got up near 27,000 or so, a friend suggested he get in touch with the Guinness Book of World Records to see about making his work official. He wrote a letter to the editors of the book, and had to turn over all his documentation during an authentication examination.
After going through Bruce’s records, the editor doing the examination told Bruce, “We can tell the genuines from the phonies — and you’re a genuine.” Bruce first went into the book in 1994, and has been featured on the organization’s website ever since.
What advice would he give sports fans who want to do some pub-hopping?
Never a sports fan, Bruce prefers his pubs to be without screens — he thinks screens that don’t have the volume turned up are silly — and preferably without loud music, although he did go to a pub once that played classical and “quite enjoyed it.”
That said, Bruce does believe the magic of England’s pub culture is there are so many different types. “If you’re looking for an old English typical boozer, there’s so many of them around,” he says. “Then you’ve got the micro pubs, the steakhouses, the lounges … they come in so many different types, you won’t have far to find whatever type of pub you prefer.”
And while he generally avoids the straight-up sports pubs — at least when games are on — he says, “I don’t look down on any pubs. So long as the beer is good, I’m not over-worried.”
What’s the strangest pub he has ever seen?
This one was easy. Bruce quickly recalls two, one in the Midlands that “was over the top of a coal mine and it had leaned over, and you could drop a marble on the floor and it would roll uphill.”
The second was even odder. It was inside a railway signal cabin in Cleethorpes, where a worker was responsible for directing train traffic. “The levers were behind the bar,” Bruce says. “I don’t know whether the barman signaled the trains. It held about four people, and that was about it.”
How many bar fights has he ended up in?
Not only has Bruce never been in a bar fight, he says, “I’ve only ever seen one pub fight and that was in 1973. So, it just shows that they’re pretty safe places.” It helps that Bruce isn’t a big soccer fan, so he generally avoids the pubs on matchday Saturdays, when rival fan groups doing their pre-game drinking can sometimes clash.
So, what makes a good pub?
Bruce quickly makes clear that he doesn’t have a favorite pub or a top-10 list, preferring simply to focus on wherever he is in that particular moment. And as with most things in life, a good pub is almost entirely due to the quality of the people there, Bruce says. Yes, the beer has to be good, but “I always pay attention to the welcome you receive behind the bar,” he says. Then, he pauses and offers an addendum.
“Also the condition of the pub toilets matters a great deal,” he continues. “Because you do tend to visit them quite a bit in the course of my visits.”
What do most people say when he tells them what he’s doing?
Bruce has other interests: For example, he’s in two amateur drama groups including one that does sketch comedy work. But this quest is the primary focus of his life, outside of his wife and children (who think he’s a little obsessed but are fine with it).
That said, the reactions he typically receives when people learn how many pubs he has been to are typically those of surprise and astonishment. He gets asked for recommendations a lot, and some are even intrigued enough to ask if they can join him on his next pub run.
The most common question, though, is the obvious one: Are you crazy?
“I’m sure a lot of people do [think so],” he says. “But who cares? I enjoy it.”