A THURROCK pub has been recognised as one of the best and friendliest in the country by a real ale fan who has visited more than 24,000 alehouses over four decades.

Beer lover, 69-year-old Peter Hill, has been on a lifetime journey to visit pubs from the Hebrides to the Isles of Scilly and from them all he has selected his top 12 – which includes Stanford-le-Hope's Rising Sun.

His travels began 40 years ago but in 2019 opened up the Campaign for Real Ale's Good Beer Guide and decided to visit all 4,500 pubs listed.

Peter, from West Bromwich, said: "The CAMRA guide is a bit like the beer drinker's bible – they know a good pub so I thought I'd try them all.

"It's the definitive guide for great pubs, I've had great fun doing and met some amazing people along the way."

Over the course of his journey he has raised £7,150 for the Midlands Air Ambulance through donations.

Dad-of-two Peter said: "It all started by just crossing off all the pubs on a local Bank's brewery map of Wolverhampton pubs back in 1984.

"We then did every pub in every Midlands county, which took me 23 years and then every pub in Wales, which took seven years.

"We've had a pint on 69 islands around the UK and visited a boozer in every British county.

"We just kept on going and going and ended up setting a world record for the longest pub crawl.

"But I needed a new challenge and I'd always wanted to complete one of the CAMRA guides - now I can say I've done it."

To mark the conclusion of his mission he published his best memories and pub ratings and the award-winning Rising Sun, on Church Hill, made it into his top 12. He recalls it as a "very friendly pub!"

Rising Sun owner Ray Ellis said: "It is really nice to see that the values of a community pub are recognised and we thank Peter for his comments."

Here is the full list of Peter's top 12 Good Beer Guide pubs:

1. The Mermaid, Hertfordshire
2. Flying Duck, Ilkey, West Yorkshire
3. Falkland Arms, Dorking, Surrey
4. Queens Head, Allens Green, Hertfordshire
5. Little Green Dragon, Winchmore Hill, Greater London
6. Westford Inn, North Uist, Outer Hebrides
7. Hope, Carsholton, Greater London
8. Big Six, Halifax, West Yorkshire
9. Little Gem, Aylesford, Kent
10. Castle, Harrow, Greater London
11. Jolly Farmers, Bramley, Surrey
12. Rising Sun, Stanford-le-Hope.

Over the course of his travels Peter reckons he's travelled 400,000 miles and sunk a staggering 60,000 pints since he started out back in 1984 - when a pint cost 64p.