Award-winning comedy duo and drinks experts, The Thinking Drinkers, are stopping off in Sandford’s Railway Inn on their ambitious 1,000 mile tandem bike tour from Land’s End to John O’Groats, relying entirely on pubs for food, drink, shelter, and moral support.
 
Tom Sandham and Ben McFarland, best known for their TV appearances on ITV’s This Morning and live shows, will be undertaking the epic two-week pub pilgrimage on a tandem bike they’ve borrowed, appropriately, from a man they met at their local.
 
The Thinking Drinkers will be spending two weeks living entirely off the hospitality of the nation’s boozers in an effort to highlight the challenges facing the pub trade, and the wonderful delights it can offer.
The incredible journey will see the pair pass through Somerset on Sunday 22 June. They’ll be hosted by Thatchers Cider at the Railway Inn in Sandford, where they’ll enjoy a refreshing pint of Thatchers Zero and a bite of local pub grub.
 
The Thinking Drinkers will then receive a much-needed morale boost as they’re joined by staff from Thatchers Cider on the final leg of the day, finishing in Backwell where they will stay overnight at the Rising Sun.
 
“If we don’t use pubs, we’ll lose them – so that’s what we’re doing, relying entirely on lovely ‘locals’ during our nationwide ride,” said Sandham. “No shops. No restaurants. No coffee chains or cafes. No petrol stations. Not even a Greggs.”
 
McFarland added: “We’ve never ridden a tandem, it’s a frighteningly long way and rather than a gentle pootle around some pretty pubs, it’s going to be a brutal bike ride on behalf of the British boozer - but it’s nothing compared to the daily struggles facing pubs up and down the country.”
 
Eleanor Thatcher, fifth generation cider maker at Thatchers who own The Railway Inn, said; “Being on the Strawberry Line means we’re often serving cider to saddle-weary riders, but this will be the first time we host a tandem of comic critics on a mission to save the local! Like many we’ve been gripped by Tom and Ben’s wonderfully ambitious adventure and on behalf of the hospitality industry, we’d like to thank them for shining a spotlight on the challenges we face. Their epic journey is a brilliant reminder of the role pubs play in people’s lives and we’re proud to raise a glass to their efforts.”

 “Pubs today are much more than just a place to drink,” added Sandham. “They are unique, historical, national institutions, the cornerstones of our communities, the heartbeat of our high streets and proven antidotes to loneliness”.

 
“Pubs are essential in bringing communities together and do so much to improve our collective mental well-being” McFarland added. “They provide crucial social respite to the people who live around them - from coffee mornings to live music, comedy nights, workspaces and, hopefully, somewhere safe to apply anti-chafing cream to very sore bottoms!”
 
“The cost for pubs to simply do business is far too high – no other sector is taxed so heavily, and it’s pushed the price of a pint above £5,” added McFarland. “Even really busy pubs are currently struggling to survive, and the average publican is making just 12p profit on a pint. That’s why we’re calling for a reduction in business rates to give them a much-needed lifeline.”
 
In the last forty years, the UK has lost 20,000 pubs while, more recently, the pub trade has been hit by a crippling combination of COVID, rocketing energy bills, cost-of-living crisis and national insurance hikes.  
 
The pair will set-off from Land’s End on Friday 20 June and plan to arrive at John O’Groats on Thursday 3 July, having visited four pubs every day. You can find their route here and follow their journey on YouTube or Instagram, @thinkingdrinkers.
 
The duo will arrive at Thatchers’ Railway Inn on Day three of their ride, having set off from the Thorverton Arms in Exeter, and cycled 86 miles, via the Butterleigh Inn in Devon, Ring O’ Bells in Taunton, enjoying their pit stop before finishing at the Rising Sun in Backwell.