WE'VE TASTED ALL TOP BEERS FOR 40 YEARS

Ale-lovers hit 23k pubs

- MARC WALKER

A GROUP of beer lovers have toasted supping 56,000 pints on a 40-year pub crawl.

The Black Country Ale Tairsters marked four decades of blowing the froth off cold ones around the UK on home turf at the Black Country Living Museum's Bottle & Glass Inn.

Pete Hill, 68, his late dad Joe and 12 pals founded the Tairsters - spelling tasters in their local tongue - in 1984.

The gang, with their distinctive beer towel waistcoats, still boast 16 members and have raised more than £35,000 for good causes by asking licensees at each pub they visit for £1.

Pete has visited a remarkable 23,466 watering holes, including pubs in every county and region of the UK.