{"id":400170,"date":"2026-01-31T06:59:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T06:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/400170\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T06:59:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T06:59:13","slug":"we-rode-the-length-of-britain-stopping-only-at-pubs-why-cyclists-need-to-support-their-local-boozers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/400170\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We rode the length of Britain stopping only at pubs’: Why cyclists need to support their local boozers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dry January<\/a>? Not a chance. While the country\u2019s lightweights are swearing off booze for the new year, the Thinking Drinkers \u2013 Ben McFarland and Tom Sandham \u2013 are doubling down on their mission to save the British pub. Over the summer they rode the length of the country on a tandem, relying solely on pubs for shelter, sustenance and of course beverages. Here, they explain why bikes and beer belong together \u2013 and why Britain\u2019s beleaguered boozers urgently need our support.<\/p>\n

Why cyclists should go to the pub <\/p>\n

Since 2000, the UK has lost a quarter of its \u2018locals\u2019 and, facing a host of economic headwinds and hardships, the number of British boozers continues to shrink quicker than a crisp packet in a roaring open fire. The costs of running a pub are simply too high. Even busy pubs are struggling to survive. No other business sector in the economy is taxed so heavily, with \u00a31 in every \u00a33 spent in the pub going to the Chancellor. The profit on a \u00a35 pint is just 12p. And that\u2019s about to get worse, as in her latest budget Rachel Reeves announced that alcohol duty would rise in line with inflation, currently 3.66%. Pubs and the wider beer sector collectively generate over \u00a315bn in tax revenues each year.<\/p>\n

Cycling to the pub turns what is primarily a solitary pursuit into a social one, bringing riders together in a way other establishments simply cannot. There is something about the natural flow and movement in a proper pint-driven pub that encourages warm and friendly social interaction. Pubs are so much more than the pints they purvey. At a time when Britain is grappling with a mental health crisis and social media drive divisions between people, the pub is a cornerstone of our communities and an antidote to loneliness.<\/p>\n

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In 1912, beer-loving writer Hilaire Belloc warned the English: \u201cChange your hearts or you will lose your inns, and you will deserve to have lost them\u2026 and when you have lost your inns, drown your empty selves, for you will have lost the last of England\u201d. If we don\u2019t use them, we will lose them.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Ben\n<\/p>\n

‘Thinking Drinkers’ Ben and Tom rode from Land’s End to John o’ Groats, stopping only at pubs (Image credit: The Thinking Drinkers)Caution is the order of the day <\/p>\n

OK, boozers and bikes are not natural bedfellows. There is, all things considered, an inherent imbalance to partnering pints with pedalling<\/a>. When consumed in excess<\/a>, alcohol turns your cleats into clown-shoes and makes a mockery of your motor function. Every gentle bend of your elbow shoves a stick further into our central nervous system, slams the brakes on your brain activity, and can even cause memory loss. Have I said that already?<\/p>\n

Sending your blood-sugar levels <\/a>awry, booze fuels foolish food choices and makes you crave sweet and starchy stuff that have no business being part of an elite cyclist\u2019s diet: Scampi Fries instead of oily fish, pork scratchings instead of chia seeds, a full English instead of oats, that kind of thing. And, of course, riding under the influence is illegal.<\/p>\n

Booze and elite racing have a long history <\/p>\n

The history of pro cycling is drenched in drink. In the early days of the Tour de France, with rules regarding water consumption notoriously rigid, alcohol fuelled the engines of some of history\u2019s greatest cyclists. Booze was safer to drink than some of the lurgy-laden water drawn from roadside wells and, during three long weeks in the saddle, it not only helped numb the pain but also acted as a crucial camaraderie catalyst among team-mates.<\/p>\n

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Drinking raids were regular occurrences right up until the 1960s. In their quest for calories, and to quench their rapacious thirst, riders raided local bars and \u2018estaminets\u2019, grabbing as much booze as they could and cycling off without paying \u2013 leaving it to Tour officials to settle up with bemused bar owners.<\/p>\n

Maurice \u2018the Chimney Sweep\u2019 Garin rode to victory in the inaugural 1903 Tour De France on a liquid diet consisting of champagne and red wine; the entire peloton pit-stopped for a \u2018pint\u2019 during the 1935 Tour de France, while Eddy Merckx<\/a>, it\u2019s claimed, filled his bidon with \u2018bubbles\u2019 during his famous victory in the Pyrenees in 1969. Jacques Anquetil<\/a>, the bon-vivant, five-time winner of Le Tour with a penchant for pastis and whisky, famously proclaimed: \u201cYou can\u2019t ride the Tour de France on mineral water\u201d. Tell that to your health-obsessed pal the next time they frown upon your pint.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll miss them when they\u2019re gone <\/p>\n

Pubs are the perfect pitstops for cyclists because they\u2019re everywhere \u2013 and provide rationale to any route whether you\u2019re doing Land\u2019s End to John o’ Groat\u2019s (LEJOG) on a rickety old tandem as we did, or a simple Sunday morning loop.<\/p>\n

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Boozer-counting boffins reckon that, wherever you happen to be in England, you are never more than 10 miles from a pub \u2013 with that number rising to around 34 miles once you venture north into the more remote regions of Scotland.<\/p>\n

In contrast to cafes and soulless coffee chains, clustered to capture footfall, pubs are democratically dotted across the land. They welcome everyone and remain the heartbeat of the nation\u2019s network of economic arteries. Eighteenth and 19th-century coaching inns provided travellers and their horses with sustenance and somewhere to sleep \u2013 and many of them remain in operation as pubs.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s in the more remote regions of the country that pubs really reveal their splendour. While many have sadly been shuttered over the last few decades, you\u2019ll still find rural boozers in places where the likes of Gregg\u2019s and Londis fear to tread. Numerous times on our two-week journey, just as our morale was ebbing, a pub would appear out of nowhere like a mirage, surrounded by nothing but insouciant sheep and stunning views. Heaven knows how they survive or, indeed, how they got there \u2013 but they rely on the passing trade from the likes of us cyclists. Only by stopping for a pint or two and stuffing our faces with peanuts can we ensure they\u2019ll still be there next time.<\/p>\n

Alcohol is optional <\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to drink alcohol in a pub. In fact, research has revealed that one in three visits to a boozer involves no alcohol at all. Every pub serves soft drinks and non-alcoholic beers. Both the range and quality of zero and low-alcohol drinks available has, in the last few years, improved immeasurably.<\/p>\n

We found Lucky Saint on draught in loads of locals and even kept cans of its lovely Bavarian lager in the bottle cages on our tandem. Other great non-alcoholic alternatives encountered on our journey included \u2018Clear Head\u2019, an alcohol-free IPA by the brilliant Bristol Beer Factory and \u2018Run Wild IPA\u2019 from the hugely successful Athletic Brewing. When we hit the West Country, we quenched our thirst with a chilled bottle of Thatchers Zero cider, while the non-alcoholic version of Guinness, almost ubiquitous in British boozers, is astonishingly close to the real thing.<\/p>\n

Some drinks were literally invented for cyclists <\/p>\n

The German word Radler means \u2018cyclist\u2019, and is a 50\/50 blend of beer and lemonade, better known to us Brits as shandy. Legend has it this blend was the brainchild of Franz Xaver Kugler, a keen cyclist and German innkeeper. His pub, the Kugler Alm, boasted an enormous beer garden and, connected to nearby Munich via a picturesque, purpose-built cycle-path, was immensely popular among thirsty cyclists. On a sweltering summer\u2019s day in 1922, the story goes, around 13,000 parched pedallers turned up at Kugler\u2019s tavern, gasping for a stein. Trouble was, he didn\u2019t have enough beer to go round, so he blended what he did have with lemon soda and christened it \u2018Radlerma\u00df\u2019 \u2013 the \u201ccyclist\u2019s measure\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Bicicletta, meanwhile, is a refreshing iconic Italian aperitivo consisting of Campari, dry white wine and a splash of soda water. A more bitter twist on the Aperol Spritz, it was named after the men who, having had a few too many at the cafe, wobbled their way home on their bikes.<\/p>\n

The cafe craze has gone too far <\/p>\n

According to some rough sums we scribbled down on a beer mat, if trends carry on as they are, pubs will be outnumbered by faceless coffee chains and Greggs within six years. The coffee shop boom has been accompanied by a 70% rise in cases of anxiety. Coincidence? Of course not.<\/p>\n

If we all keep drinking more and more coffee, the entire nation is going to soil itself \u2013 and heaven knows our beleaguered water companies can\u2019t cope with that. So, next time you\u2019re on your bike, snub a Starbucks in favour of a beautiful British boozer.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Ben\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: The Thinking Drinkers)Six of the best LEJOG pubs <\/p>\n

Old Success Inn \u2013 Sennen Cove, Cornwall
Fifteen minutes from Land\u2019s End, this is a lovely launch pad for LEJOG. Its beautiful bedrooms have uplifting ocean views, and it offers morning yoga on the sundeck.<\/p>\n

Salutation Inn \u2013 Gloucestershire
\u2018The Sally\u2019 is a superb alehouse run by a fantastic fellow called Pete, who acutely understands the social value of pubs. He serves great beers and ciders, offers warm pies.<\/p>\n

Cholmondeley Arms \u2013 Cheshire
Stay the night at \u2018The Chum\u2019 if you can, an old Victorian schoolhouse converted into a charming Cheshire country pub. Six lovely rooms, fantastic food and an amazing array of gins.<\/p>\n

Mardale Inn \u2013 Bampton, Cumbria
This Lakeland Inn was bought by a local community co-operative. It\u2019s a lovely local just round the corner from the famous red telephone box that featured in the cult film Withnail and I. Chin, chin!<\/p>\n

Crask Inn \u2013 Scotland
Small and cosy with a vast range of whiskies, this is the most remote inn on the British mainland \u2013 and was a high point of our trip. It\u2019s an inn set amid seriously stunning scenery.<\/p>\n

Barkley Tavern \u2013 Wigan
Debbie runs a wonderfully warm, welcoming neighbourhood boozer that really cares for its community. She introduced us to the \u2018Wigan Kebab\u2019 \u2013 a huge meat pie in a big white bap.<\/p>\n

This feature was originally published in the 2 January 2026 print edition of Cycling Weekly magazine \u2013 available to buy on the newsstand every Thursday (UK only) while digital versions are available on Apple News<\/a> and Readly<\/a>. Subscriptions through Magazine’s Direct<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dry January? Not a chance. While the country\u2019s lightweights are swearing off booze for the new year, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-400170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}