A man walks into a bar… And then another one. And then another one.
In fact Rob Cocker has now walked into 11,000 bars up and down the land.
Rob, 68, from Stoke, started his epic pub crawl nearly 50 years ago. And he clocked up the 11,000th at a Manchester alehouse.
To celebrate the milestone he has named his top five pubs. And among them is… the York Tap.
He told YorkMix:
It’s got a tremendous selection of the old beers.
I like the actual place. Also I’m fascinated by trains, and it being right on the station I just love it.
And every time I’m in York I try and call in.
24 pubs in two days
Rob is a big fan of York. “The last time I went with the wife.
“I was there for two days and I did 24 pubs. So I knocked a huge hole in what I wanted to do in York.”
How does he rate it as a city for pubs?
York – what can you say? I’ll just say it’s in the top five cities in the UK. And that’s putting it down.
You could argue the toss – it could well be the best. York is fantastic, I love it.
I’ve been to York umpteen times. God knows how many pubs I’ve knocked up in York now.
The York Tap is a craft beer specialist and freehouse, created by the city’s Pivovar group.
It is housed in the beautifully refurbished 1907 tearooms of York Station.
And Rob’s not the only fan – the pub has won a number of awards, including National Cask Ale Pub of the Year.
Alongside pubs, Rob’s other passion is football. He follows Stoke City and, for reasons he can’t explain, Hartlepool – which has brought him to Bootham Crescent a few times.
And one visit stands out in his mind.
“I went to get my ticket. I don’t know how I did it but somehow I ended up inside the bowels of Bootham Crescent,” he said.
“The next door I came to, it was a red door and it said ‘Manager’s Office’. I thought, “I’m not going to knock on it’…”