A real regular! Pensioner, 90, has visited his local pub EVERY DAY for the past 72 years and supped an incredible 30,000 pints

  • A pint of £2.75 Courage bitter every day at 3pm
  • 30,000 pints equates to £82,500 in today's money
  • Manageress gets him to try brews before selling them behind the bar

By Sam Shead

PUBLISHED: 13:08 EST, 10 September 2012 | UPDATED: 02:42 EST, 11 September 2012


A pub regular who has visited the same boozer every day for 72 years has been honoured with a plaque on his favourite chair - where he has drank a staggering 30,000 pints.

Arthur Reid, 90, has popped into The Griffin Pub almost every day at 3pm since turning 18 to enjoy a pint or two of his beloved Courage bitter.

He has his own special glass behind the bar and now an engraved gold plaque has been placed on the back of his favourite chair to mark his 90th birthday.

Arthur Reid, 90, enjoys a pint of Courage bitter at his local in South Gloucestershire where he has been a regular for 72 years

Arthur Reid, 90, enjoys a pint of Courage bitter at his local in South Gloucestershire where he has been a regular for 72 years

The Griffin pub in Warmley gets Arthur to test new brews before getting them on tap

The Griffin pub in Warmley gets Arthur to test new brews before getting them on tap

A special plaque on pub regular Arthur Reid's chair at The Griffin pub

A special plaque on pub regular Arthur Reid's chair at The Griffin pub

The retired council worker, who left school at 14 to work as a labourer and never married or had children, said he had never been tempted to find another watering hole.

He said: 'I used to get up very early every morning and was paid seven and sixpence for working an 80 to 100-hour week - there was no such thing as holidays back then.

'I've always worked hard and enjoyed visiting the pub - I've never seen the need to go much farther.

 

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'I've been coming here a long time and hope that I can carry on for some more years to come.'

Arthur still nips into the pub in Warmley, Gloucestershire, every day at 3pm unless he has a hospital appointment.

His sister Margaret Lee-Sze-Tsiok, 65, organised a surprise party at the pub to celebrate his landmark 90th birthday.

Arthur Reid (far left) at The Griffin in the 1940's when he often had a bit more than just one pint

Arthur (far left) at The Griffin in the 1940's when he often had a bit more than just one pint

Arthur Reid (right) having a good time with a few of his drinking mates in the 1940s

Arthur (right) having a good time with a few of his drinking mates in the 1940s

Suited and booted: Reid (bottom right) and the pub skittles team in the 1950's

Suited and booted: Arthur (bottom right) and the pub skittles team in the 1950's

Manageress Asia Matczak said: 'He missed a couple of days last winter because of the bad weather, but usually, when it gets to around 3:30 and he's not here, we're like "Where's Arthur?"'

Asia, 42, estimates Arthur has supped an impressive 30,000 pints in the family-friendly pub, as he used to drink more when he was younger

She said: 'He walks a lot for an old gent - he walks to the shop every day and walks to the pub on his way home.

'I often see him out and about with his cane.

The Griffin pub as it appeared in the 1930's in the village of Warmley, Bristol

The Griffin pub as it appeared in the 1930's in the village of Warmley, Bristol

'He has a pint of Courage without fail, and sometimes has another half, or a bit more if some of his friends come in.

'He is friends with everyone. He loves being listened to, and is one of the nicest people I have ever met. Arthur is a really good man.'

A pint of Courage costs £2.75 at the pub, meaning if he were to buy all his drinks at today's prices, he would have spent an eye-watering £82,500 on booze.

Asia, who has run the pub for two-and-a-half years, said: 'He used to drink only bitter when we didn't have a large selection of other beers.

'I have employed Arthur to check out and test some of the brews I was thinking about having.

'If he didn't like them, he'd tell me and I wouldn't get them on tap.'

 
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You lucky, jammy thing!

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Paul you need to read the whole article thoroughly before making stupid comments like "at 3pm every day, guess he is another council fat cat who only does a few hrs work a day, disgusting."

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Wouldn't he be classified as a "binge-drinker".

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at 3pm every day, guess he is another council fat cat who only does a few hrs work a day, disgusting.

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To : Rugbyfan, Leamington - anyone who "loves being listened to" is likely to hold a very one-sided conversation - it bores landlords / landladies and staff behind the bar because they have to listen to it EVERY day or in his guy`s case EVERY DAY for 72 years !!!!!!! Anyhow he must be a clever guy to get off work EVERY day for 72 years in time to reach the pub by 3 p.m. defying licensing laws of the time AND avoiding serving in the Second World War - I didn`t actually say HE is a bore ( and possibly I am being unfair ) however this "story" which may well warm the hearts of DM readers such as you may provoke a different reaction to those who actually work in the pub trade - believe me !!!!!!!!!

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God Bless you sir.I also like a couple of pints of an afternoon in one of my locals.Weather permitting of course.And distracting the wife before you make a bolt for it helps.

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God Bless you Sir.I still indulge in a pint or two of an aftenroon,in one of my locals.Weather permitting of course.And if the wife isn't looking when i make a bolt for it.

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Headline: Man goes to pub EVERY DAY. Story: Man goes to pub a lot.

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Every DAY for 72 years? So presumably that means he's never been on holiday? Never spent the night outside the UK? I could not live like that.

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"He loves being listened to" ... not many "listeners" in the top photograph. I knew a guy whose life ambition was to run a small pub and he sold his newsagents shop in order to do so. Six months was all he lasted in the pub game as couldn`t stand having to make conversation each night with the same saddo elderly regulars who bored him and bored other customers and managed spead out a pint for as long as they could. Publicans much prefer passing trade and new faces or sometime regulars, not saddos like this old bloke propping up the bar every night. It is very unlikely he has spent EVERY DAY drinking in this pub and even if so, not something to be particularly proud of. - Steffanie , Mitcham, 11/9/2012 12:53 At least, according to you, his excuse for being a bore is that he's elderly, what's your excuse Steffanie?

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