Couple on 60,000 pub crawl return to Doncaster as tally nears 5,000

Nottinghamshire-based Dale Harvey, 38, and his wife-to-be Holly Booth, 32, set out in March 2022 and reckon they will have to visit more than 60,000 boozers the length and breadth of the British Isles to complete their challenge – spending tens of thousands of pounds and sometimes visiting 23 pubs a day.

They have already clocked up more than 4,800 pubs across the country in their epic quest.

The couple, who share details of their journey on their Facebook page HERE have already dropped in to Doncaster previously – and rattled off a number of bars in Thorne on their latest visit.

Here, in their own words, are their thoughts on Thorne’s watering holes.

“After a brilliant two days in York, it was time to head off somewhere else and see what they had to offer.

"Saturday's adventure took us to the small market town of Thorne which is located between Doncaster and Scunthorpe for anyone not familiar with it.

“We kicked off around the outskirts of Thorne by heading to a community local hidden away amongst the houses called 'The Brooke Arms' which is very smartly furnished inside and has a pool table and TVs.

"Beer line up is the classic 'Beer Line Up Of Doom' with only Carling, Fosters, Strongbow, John Smiths and Guinness to choose from.

“Place is friendly enough and is cash only.”

Next up we ventured to 'The Canal Tavern' which is a food led pub with some absolutely brilliant smelling food coming out!

"The bottom side of the pub was packed out with happy looking diners and the young staff team are all friendly and attentive.

"This one is dog friendly and has a much better beer line up on offer with a couple of ales on and some decent bits amongst the taps.

“Up next, we ventured to 'Thorne Democratic Club & Institute' known locally as 'The Demi' which is a really sweet little social club that is the Saturday night hub of the town with regular live music on its ample sized stage.

"A gorgeous little club with thee rooms, a pool table and plenty going on!

“We then nipped to the local rugby club which is called 'Thornensians' and as you can probably imagine, I stood absolutely NO CHANCE of pronouncing that correctly at all.

"A nice little club bar with reasonable keg choices going on and friendly staff.

“Having then made it to the bottom of the town area, our next stop was 'Willaspoons' which is a great little sports bar with lovely landlord, staff and regulars.

"No ales but plenty of good keg choices, a pool table and plenty of screens. Good atmosphere and lovely people!

“Two minutes walk brings you to the 'Fair Green' which is a locals style place. Again, no ales (this obviously isn't a real ale kinda town) but a decent mix of stuff amongst the taps with a pool table and dart board.

“Next up was 'Fuzion' which you could be forgiven for thinking isn't open from the outside as there isn't much to give away that it's even still a functioning place.

“Inside you'll find a pool table and some TVs that had the horse racing on but it's another pretty low quality line up on the taps sadly and is a little bit of a strange set up without much identity.

"Young lady on the bar was friendly but I just can't really work out what style of bar this is trying to be - it calls itself a cafe bar =- but there's no sign of any style of food going on that we could see.

“You can’t get to the small bar for people sitting around it despite plenty of seating around the rest of the place either.

“Just around the corner is the town Craft Union pub which is called 'Red Bear' and was by far, the busiest pub of the day so far as was absolutely packed out by 16:15.

"Usual Craft Union style beer line up, dog friendly and plenty of screens all over the pub. Decent mix of folks of all ages in too.

“It's a one minute stroll to reach 'The Windmill' which is certainly where the beer choices finally picked up for the day.

“Another mega busy pub that actually carries some brilliant cask ales alongside the decent tap mix.

"Really friendly staff, a pool table, plenty of screens and a real eclectic mix of customers in of all ages.

"This one has a bit of everything and is probably the standout pub of the day so far!

"Top notch... I can't seem to find a proper Facebook page for the pub though which seems strange, if anyone knows of one, please tag it in for us!

“Furthest one out of the way to then wander down to is 'The Barge Inn' which is situated down at the Marina and is very much worth the walk down to!

"They also had a top notch cask ale on offer (Hudson's Porter from Brew York) and have a young team of staff that are all very lovely.

"It's a great little beer line up on offer and the place was also really busy which is great to see considering its location is so far off the beaten track – a super little find.

“Our penultimate stop of the night was 'The Punchbowl' and this one looks very much like a restaurant from the external view – but trust me, it's definitely a pub and a really good one at that and which also had a decent ale on offer.

“A couple of open fires going that were perfectly heating the place and a rustic vibe throughout.

“Tonight's final stop was one of those carvery style Marston's places up on a retail park, the King’s Chamber

“Very generic looking place but busy and friendly enough... despite the horror ale line up solely of Pedigree.”