An unbreakable tradition: friends have been getting together for a beer every Thursday for 56 years (3 photos + 1 video)

The men say they have been meeting on Zoom during the pandemic and need "official" permission from other members of the group to be absent.





The men are Paul Haynes, Bill Munden, Ken King, Peter Thirlwall, Brian Ayres and Dick Cotton.

"None of them can imagine themselves anywhere in the world right now, because Thursday night has been a pub night every week for the past 56 years," the article says.

The band, now in their early 80s, say they have missed no more than two dozen meetings since 1968.

"We very, very rarely miss a Thursday. Sometimes we're all on holiday and we can't cope. It's just the three of us if it gets really tough," said retired electrical engineer Peter.

The men also say they've had a few Thursdays where they've all met together every Thursday for a year or two or even three in a row.

The pub crawls started with students Ken and Paul using their time off to play golf and then slyly have a pint.



The habit quickly became a tradition, with Ken joking that anyone who dared to skip out without a valid excuse would have to carry a written note of absence, like at school.

The group's size has fluctuated over the years as friends, colleagues and neighbours have come and gone.

"We used to talk about football and sex. Now it's more about prostates and pensions," jokes Peter.

The group takes turns at pubs in Sheffield and Rotherham to accommodate the geographical spread of the group, but they try to stay true to their favourites.

"I'd say on average we've been going to a pub for just over nine years. Most of the pubs we've stopped going to have closed," Peter explains. "

Even a global pandemic couldn't drive a wedge between them, as Thursday nights became a virtual pub night for a few months during 2020, thanks to Zoom.

"We still do Zooms once a month because we didn't want to give them up after Covid," Ken explains.



The tight-knit group has different political views, but the most important thing is that they don't get personal or leave the pub after closing time.

When the group first met in 1968, Labour was in power, Manchester City were English football champions and England were just shy of their first league title Europe.

"Despite the fact that they have had 17 children, 33 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren since their first drink 56 years ago, the cohesion of this evergreen and cheerful group has also not changed," the article says.