Record for most bars on one street

[snopes]

Comment: I recently moved to Corning, NY and I have been told by numerous
people that this town was mentioned in The Guinness Book of World Records
for the most bars on one street.

I attempted to locate this information to verify the validity of this
absurd notion, but cannot locate any information regarding this
distinction.

Can you provide any insight into this urban legend? I've heard this before
from other cities that they've been listed in the GWR and I would like to
have the correct answer. If you do find the correct answer, can you please
post which, if any, city does hold this distinction?

[Mateus]

Originally Posted by snopes

: I recently moved to Corning, NY and I have been told by numerous
people that this town was mentioned in The Guinness Book of World Records
for the most bars on one street.

I attempted to locate this information to verify the validity of this
absurd notion, but cannot locate any information regarding this
distinction.

Can you provide any insight into this urban legend? I've heard this before
from other cities that they've been listed in the GWR and I would like to
have the correct answer. If you do find the correct answer, can you please
post which, if any, city does hold this distinction?

Heck, I go to school in Corning! The rest of the story goes that Amo Houghton, former congressman and board member of Corning, Inc, (or Jamie houghton, former CEO of Corning, Inc.) owned a dog who went from bar to bar. At each bar, someone would set out a bowl of beer for the dog, and each week, Amo/Jamie would get a bill inthe mail from each bar the dog visited.

I've heard this a few times, but I've never really given it any thought; I assumed whomever was telling the story was full of it. My guess is that the street in question would be Market St., and there is a Market Street Preservation committee of some sort I can get in contact with.

[Zorro]

Hm, I would have thought Hoboken, NJ would be in the running for this title.

From Wiki (usual disclaimers apply):
"Hoboken was once known as the city with "a bar on every corner" and in fact was once listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the city with "Most bars in a square mile". There were well over 200 bars in town in the first half of the 20th century. There are still well over 100 now. Hoboken limits by law the number of liquor licenses to the number of blocks and the limit is usually reached."

Zor "2.0 square miles and how many bars?" ro

[MooseMacD]

In Canada (or at least the Maritimes), I had always heard that Halifax had the "most bars per person". As a Dalhousie graduate, I experienced a few of them personally.

Of course, some friends from Newfoundland had heard the same claim of "most bars" for St John's.

l would have to say Duval Street in Key West has to be near the top. I have been told this city drinks more alcohol person then any other town in the US.

[Andrew of Ware]

In about 1750 Ware had a pub or inn for every thirteen adults!

[Richard W]

The BBC has an article investigating which town has the most pubs per head of population in the UK.

Which town has the most pubs for its size?

Their informal survey puts the winner as Manningtree in Essex (5 pubs for 900 people = 180 people per pub), which is rather surprising. That's only one stop from here on the train. None of the suggestions by readers beat that, either. But as the article points out, it's arguable whether Manningtree is a "town"; it probably doesn't count. Very small places out in the countryside would get an advantage if there's no restriction on size, as they don't need all that many pubs to win...

[Aimee Evilpixie]

There are probably eight blocks of Bourbon Street in New Orleans that pretty much only contain bars and the occasional strip club or tourist gift crap to sell to the drunks. I should count the bars the next time I'm in New Orleans.

[Tarquin Farquart]

Originally Posted by Richard W

The BBC has an article investigating which town has the most pubs per head of population in the UK.

Which town has the most pubs for its size?

Their informal survey puts the winner as Manningtree in Essex (5 pubs for 900 people = 180 people per pub), which is rather surprising. That's only one stop from here on the train. None of the suggestions by readers beat that, either. But as the article points out, it's arguable whether Manningtree is a "town"; it probably doesn't count. Very small places out in the countryside would get an advantage if there's no restriction on size, as they don't need all that many pubs to win...

That's a fascinating article, Richard. I don't think Manningtree has enough pubs for a lengthy pub crawl. The one at the station is quite good IIRC.

[Richard W]

Originally Posted by Tarquin Farquart

The one at the station is quite good IIRC.

I think that's the only one I've been to. Although I might pop down there tomorrow just for a look round...

[Tarquin Farquart]

Originally Posted by Richard W

I think that's the only one I've been to. Although I might pop down there tomorrow just for a look round...

Gah, you and your proximity to the town with the most pubs per head in the country!

Mind you, London isn't short of pubs.

[Andrew of Ware]

Originally Posted by Tarquin Farquart

Gah, you and your proximity to the town with the most pubs per head in the country!

Mind you, London isn't short of pubs.

Trouble is, it's not short of people either.

Just looked up the WareOnLine page of pubs and it turns out that Ware now has 26 pubs for a population of 17,000. Not good enough for a record breaker. However in 1908 (I've just looked up the figures in a book) Ware had 62 pubs for a population of 5,573. Ignoring children (if only!) this works out at one pub for thirty adults!

(Source: Christ Church, Ware. A History)

[Richard W]

Originally Posted by Tarquin Farquart

The one at the station is quite good IIRC.

Following my research trip, I can report that The Station Buffet doesn't count as a pub in Manningtree - Manningtree station is in fact in Lawford, half a mile or so from Manningtree itself. The five pubs in Manningtree are The Skinners, The Swan, The White Hart, The Red Lion and The Crown.

I will buy anyone a beer if they can find a street with more bars than George Street, a road in St. John's Newfoundland made entirely of bars.

For certain holidays (George Street Festival, Canada, Mardi Gras) they close down the street to make it one big outdoor bar complete with beer venders on the sidewalks.

[Tarquin Farquart]

The unofficial title of the UK town with the most pubs per person has been awarded to Rhayader in mid Wales.

Dozens of places up and down the country may claim the accolade, but BBC Radio 4's More or Less has given it to the quaint Powys market town.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/7423077.stm

During the summer, when all the students have gone home, it must be Aberystwyth... 12,000 people and 50+ pubs is 240/1, and that's somewhere that actually has more than three roads.

[me, no really]

I once drove through a town in outback NSW that had five pubs and two houses. Yes, that was the entire town.

me

[Richard W]

Originally Posted by ibroxmassive

During the summer, when all the students have gone home, it must be Aberystwyth... 12,000 people and 50+ pubs is 240/1, and that's somewhere that actually has more than three roads.

Tch, 240:1 doesn't even beat Manningtree, let alone Rhayader. 173:1 is the target. Although I wasn't counting the roads in Manningtree; perhaps I should go back tomorrow...

To be fair, you're right that smaller places get an advantage. I grew up in a village / town that must now have about 12,000 people (as an upper limit anyway - 8,000 to 10,000 is a better guess. Wikipedia says 9,875), seasonally at least. And there are only six pubs in the whole place (probably a couple more if you count the bar(s) at the holiday camp and the British Legion, which might be public in theory). So Aberystwyth is doing pretty well to have over 50 pubs in a similar space.

[Moon]

Off the top of my head I would have said Mumbles. When I told people I was going to Wales I got asked many times if I was planning on doing the Mumbles Mile. (We didn't.) But none of you over there have even mentioned it.

-Moon

[snopes]

I think the street with the record for most bars is Nanaimo Street in Vancouver.

- snopes