The Hairy Bikers' Pubs That Built Britain

Season 1

The Hairy Bikers take their charm and humour on the road as they encounter brilliant, eccentric and fascinating people across Britain whose lives surround the nation's pubs.

Where to Watch Season 1

BBC Select Apple Tv channelSubscription

15 Episodes

Yorkshire
E1
YorkshireThe fascinating history hidden in Britain's boozers. Si and Dave visit a Yorkshire pub believed to have been drunk dry by troops in the English Civil War.
The Lake District
E2
The Lake DistrictDave takes Si on a pub tour of his Lake District home patch, following in the footsteps of the poets Wordsworth and Coleridge. On the way, they sample negus - a wine-based drink from the late 1800s - and battle it out in a traditional pub competition to find out who 'The Biggest Liar' is.
Manchester
E3
ManchesterDave and Si visit a pub with roots in the English Civil War.
Cornwall
E4
CornwallIn Cornwall, the daring duo delve into the world of 18th-century smuggling, exploring a smugglers' tunnel in a tiny fishing village and visiting the real-life Jamaica Inn on Bodmin Moor, the setting for Daphne du Maurier's novel about murderous wreckers.
Lincolnshire
E5
LincolnshireThe history hidden in Britain's boozers. Si and Dave visit 'Bomber County', Lincolnshire, on a mission to discover the importance of the county's pubs in World War II.
Liverpool
E6
LiverpoolThe Hairy Bikers get groovy in Liverpool as they take a historic pub tour of some of the swinging 60s' most important pubs. They meet John Lennon's drinking buddies from the 1950s to find out what he got up to over a pint or two before he was famous. And before performing their own song on stage at The Cavern, the duo discover why one nearby pub was a regular for 60s stars including Cilla Black, Gerry and The Pacemakers and The Beatles.
South Wales
E7
South WalesDave visits the valleys of south Wales to uncover the history of some fascinating boozers and unearth pubs that were at the heart of the area's coal-mining communities. On the way, he journeys underground to the coal face to find out what life was really like, meets an award-winning choir and drives a steam train that has a pub at the end of its line.
Home Counties
E8
Home CountiesFrom drinking medieval ale in the ancient town of St Albans to morris dancing in the oldest free house in Britain, Si and Dave embark on a historic pub crawl to discover how Britain's inns and taverns witnessed the beginning, end and intervening years in the Wars of the Roses.
Glasgow
E9
GlasgowSi and Dave's historic pub tour takes them to Glasgow, where they explore the city's shipbuilding history. Meeting former shipyard workers, they discover what pub life was like when the yard's whistles blew. Si tries his hand at welding in a shipyard. And the Bikers celebrate the city's illustrious past with some cocktail making in a bar supposedly styled on the Clydebuilt ship, The Queen Mary.
East End London
E10
East End LondonSi and Dave step back in time to the 50s and 60s of London's East End. They uncover murder and brutality when their tour takes them to pubs once central to the criminal deeds of the notorious Kray twins.
Edinburgh
E11
EdinburghThe guys discover dark histories in pubs that witnessed murder and gruesome punishments in the 1800s, and meet a folk singer who keeps the city's historic tales alive.
Bristol
E12
BristolDave delves into Bristol's past and discover some pubs with fascinating histories, from an inn with a special hole in the wall designed to keep watch for press gangs to a landlord who played a key role in the abolition of slavery.
Oxford
E13
OxfordSi and Dave take a pub tour of Oxford to visit the spot where CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien drank pints together, plus a favourite haunt of Inspector Morse creator Colin Dexter.
Great Fire of London
E14
Great Fire of LondonSi and Dave's tour takes them to London, where they find inns that witnessed the Great Fire and pubs that watered the workers during the city's 50-year rebuild.
Carlisle
E15
CarlisleThe Hairy Bikers end their pub tour in Carlisle, where they discover an extraordinary WWI government scheme designed to put a stop to drunken behaviour by taking over and controlling all the pubs and breweries. The Bikers discover what the scheme did and how it changed Carlisle's pubs forever.