A former Tory staffer is attempting to down a pint in all 650 UK constituencies - to warn the Government it must act to save struggling pubs. Jay Chan, who worked as an assistant for former Dudley North MP Marco Longhi until he lost his seat this year, is worried anti-smoking measures and taxes on boozers will force many to close.
The 18-year-old plans to visit a pub in all 650 UK constituencies and neck a drink in one go with a mix of regular punters and activists from across the political spectrum. The idea was born in a Nottingham boozer's garden last month [Aug 26] where he challenged regulars to vote Tory if he could down a pint of beer.
He's since downed 10 pints in Midlands constituencies and has set up a GoFundMe to raise cash for trips to London and other UK major cities next year. Jay hails pubs as being 'magic for bringing communities together' and so wants to raise awareness of their importance to communities.
He is campaigning for the Government to reduce tax, extend opening hours and u-turn on their controversial plans to ban smoking in pub gardens. The Tory Party member's social media posts show him impressively chugging down pints in around eight seconds and he's now got more than 5,000 followers on TikTok and Instagram.
Jay, who lives in Birmingham, said: "I was in a pub garden and I offered to down a pint if they'd vote Tory. I ended up downing two with a pub garden of 20-30 people chanting 'do it for the votes' and that's when I realised pubs have the magic to bring communities together.
"I started in my home constituency of Sutton Coldfield and now I've got local figures, pub owners and councillors from different parties all following me. I'm trying to keep my challenge quite politically diverse so I did my last one with a Liberal Democrat guy.
"I think downing pints is a natural talent and it's a basic thing for integrating into Britain. I hope to reach all the major cities within two years then that'll leave me with lots of Lib Dem constituencies and some Labour and Tory constituencies."
Jay, who emigrated from Hong Kong in 2020, also wants it to be easier for pubs to become listed buildings and for it to be part of councils' responsibilities to advertise them and aid their sale. He's got a £2,000 target to raise funds for his trip to London and says any additional funds will go to charity.
In the description he said: "I'm doing this because pubs are in decline, and it's a bleeding of British culture. It's only right that we stop it."
You can donate to Jay's GoFundMe here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/donate-to-help-jay-chan-down-a-pint-in-650-constituencies
