Jay Chan, 18, has visited 10 different constituencies so far on his mammoth pub crawl – which he admits might take him two decades and will cost more than £3,000
A beer enthusiast has set himself the challenge of having a pint in every one of the UK’s 650 parliamentary constituencies to draw attention to the struggles faced by British pubs.
Jay Chan, an 18-year-old former MP staffer from Birmingham, has embarked on this ambitious pub crawl which he estimates could take him up to 20 years to complete. So far, he’s managed to have a pint in ten different locations, leaving him with 640 more to visit. The cost of his beer-drinking journey is expected to exceed £3,000 just for the drinks.
Jay said: “I think it will take me a very, very long time especially doing all the rural constituencies. I can’t drink and drive obviously and the trains aren’t as efficient out there.” His mission is driven by his desire to safeguard the British pub industry, which he sees as an “integral part of British life.”
He is advocating for the abolition of the 20 per cent VAT rate on food and drinks in pubs and for support to be given to local heritage pubs seeking listed status. “The pub brings communities together.”
Jay said: “They have been here since the Roman times, and it’s sad to see them in decline. When people think about Britain they think about Big Ben, the king, the Union Jack but after that comes the pub, and the pints and the people enjoying them it’s vital we protect them.”
If Jay manages to complete his challenge, he will end up spending at least £3,055, assuming he only consumes one pint per constituency. However, he admits that the cost of visiting all the pubs is much higher than he anticipated, leading him to start a Go Fund Me campaign which has so far raised over £2,000.
He has already visited every constituency in Birmingham except for Hodgehill in the city centre and aims to cover “most of the West Midlands” in the upcoming months.
His “very rough” plan is to “work his way out from Birmingham”. “It helps if it’s easy to get to by train or by bike, I’m not sure how I’ll manage when I have to go to London – especially as pints there are so expensive! ” Jay added.
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Videos of Jay visiting various pubs have garnered thousands of views online, earning him a reputation for his pint-drinking prowess. Jay previously worked for ex-MP Marco Longhi before the general election in July and hopes to return to politics as soon as possible.
“In the meantime I’m continuing with my challenge, I’ve got time on my side, it could take 20 years but I’ll keep going,” he said. Last weekend, he ticked off Dudley, Tipton and Wednesbury all located in the West Midlands.
He is most excited about visiting Northern Ireland, home to 18 different constituencies, but his favourite pub remains the Hop Garden in Birmingham. Despite having worked for a former Tory MP, Jay has tried to bridge the political divide with his campaign, emphasising that pints can “unite people regardless of political differences”.
