A Welshman has set a new world record pub crawl after visiting 56 Cardiff bars in 24 hours. Gareth Murphy, 29, of Caernarfon, downed a drink in each of 56 pubs before he could move on to the next watering hole.
IT worker Gareth went on the giant crawl around pubs in Cardiff as he drank a mixture of alcoholic and soft drinks throughout the day. And he breezed past the former world record of 51 pubs set by Englishman Matt Ellis in 2021.
Gareth said: "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." I knew the best place to do this was in the centre of Cardiff."
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It's not the first time Gareth's record-breaking has garned attention, leaving Bradley Walsh in stitches after hearing about his unusual "hobby" on Beat the Chasers. He revealed to Walsh that he'd developed a strange "habit in the last few years" of attempting to get his name enshrined in the Guinness Book of Records.
Gareth, of Caernarfon, chose the capital for his successful attempt because the 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. And Gareth started the day shortly after 10am with a lemonade in a Wetherspoons, before moving on and continuing until 9.26pm after hitting 56.
He said his tactic on choosing drinks was to go with "just whichever went down the easier.” He added: "However, as the day went on, I did notice that apple juice went down better than orange juice.
“The hardest part by far was the bloatedness of drinking so much. It didn’t help that I can’t make myself burp either. It was a long, tiring day. The hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he said.
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. He said: "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.”
Hhis marathon all-dayer in February has now been recognised by Guinness World Records with a certificate proudly on his wall. On breaking the record, Gareth said: "It made all the hard work and preparation worth it. It feels great to achieve something like this."
In total Gareth downed:
- 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
A Guinness World Records spokesman said: "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."
