Despite several attempts in recent months, the true holder of the title has been awaiting certification since February.
Some Guinness World Records are more pleasant to break than others. “Most nails inserted into the nose in 30 seconds?” Yes, I’d rather pass on that one. (By the way, it’s 15.) But “Most pubs visited within 24 hours?” Well, in my twenties, I tried to unintentionally break that record every Saturday.
So, we probably shouldn’t have been surprised in October 2021 when Englishman Matt Ellis set the Guinness World Record for “Most Pubs Visited Within 24 Hours (Individual)” with 51 pubs that others quickly attempted to surpass. In fact, it happened so often and so quickly that even the record books couldn’t keep up.
On February 5, 2022, Welshman Gareth Murphy broke the record by visiting 56 pubs, and Guinness World Records certified his achievement in June. In September, Englishman Nathan Crimp claimed to have broken the record by making stops at 67 different pubs and began the process of officially verifying his record. However, Crimp was unaware that all his efforts were in vain because South African Heinrich de Villiers had already undertaken a record-breaking pub tour in Melbourne, Australia, which lasted from February 10 to 11. He was just waiting for it to be certified, which has now happened, with an incredible 78 pubs.
De Villiers – who said that some confusion about his application delayed certification – told Guinness World Records that he undertook the record attempt to “draw attention to and support Melbourne’s local pub/bar scene, which was heavily affected during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to showcase the hidden and lesser-known places that the city of Melbourne has to offer.”
Interestingly, de Villiers said in an email that attempting the record in the aftermath of COVID made things a little easier. “This was right after the lockdown,” the 22-year-old told me, “where we had to check in at every place we visited. This was very helpful in submitting as proof to Guinness World Records that we actually were in 78 pubs/bars.”
As for his strategy, de Villiers took a different approach compared to previous record holders by dividing his spree into two parts. He said he set out with his brother Ruald and friend Wessel Burger at 5 p.m. on Thursday, February 10, visited pubs until midnight, then took a break (presumably including sleep) until noon the next day. Then they resumed their spree until 5 p.m., dividing the 24 hours into a 7-hour session and a 5-hour session. But even visiting so many locations had its challenges, with “unpredictability” being the biggest issue. “You can plan as much as you want, but you can never know exactly what will happen,” he said. “You don’t know which places will unexpectedly be full or closed and where you’ll have to wait longer than you thought. That’s ultimately why we had to stop at 78 licensed pubs because we simply ran out of time.”
The math alone is astonishing. To reach 78 stops in 24 hours, the average time between pub visits would have to be less than 19 minutes. Since de Villiers says they took a 12-hour break, the total time of the spree was only 12 hours, reducing the time per stop to less than 10 minutes – and that had to include ordering, paying, drinking, and moving on to the next pub.
Additionally, the record holder must purchase and consume at least 125 milliliters of a beverage at each stop, meaning de Villiers must have consumed an absolute minimum of 9.75 liters of liquid – over 20 pints. “We mainly drank beer at most places,” he added, “but occasionally mixed it up with one or two diet colas.”
As a result, de Villiers may have set the bar high enough that this record will not be broken for a long time… or at least not again this year.
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