Marston’s has teamed up with Paddy McGuinness on a search for the UK’s smartest pub. Marston’s Big Pub Quiz has been welcoming locals into over 200 pubs across the country weekly to put their general knowledge to the test, since Thursday, 1st May.
Locals at the Black Diamond in Creswell Worksop came out on top, securing the title of this week’s Smartest Pub in the UK, marking the end of the Quiz.
As well as bragging rights, The Black Diamond has also won a grant of up to £1,000 from the Marston’s Charitable Foundation, to support a local community project close to their hearts.
The chosen project is the Remember Richard Rice Foundation, a charity set up by two of the pub’s regulars in honour of their son, who passed away. The Foundation raises funds to direct towards meaningful local causes.
This Summer, the Black Diamond will host a music festival to raise even more donations for the Foundation.
Representatives from The Black Diamond and The Remember Richard Rice Foundation will be presented with the grant in person by Paddy McGuinness in June.
Players took part in the quiz for free. If they attended the first quiz, their cumulative score was logged across the month if they took part every week. The individual quiz-goer with the highest overall score from across every quiz night will bag a £5,000 cash prize and the chance to join Paddy for the in-person congratulations.
The audio-based quiz kicked off each Thursday night at 8pm. Guests were invited to log on via QR codes and play four rounds via their phones, with Paddy’s questions and a live compere being played for all to hear, via the pubs’ sound system.
While pub quizzes are usually played in teams, the Marston’s Big Pub Quiz was every man for themselves, giving the chance for groups to engage in some friendly competition to reach the highest score, add to the pub’s average score and claim ultimate bragging rights.
Marston’s Charitable Foundation is dedicated to giving back to the local communities in which the pubs operate, up and down the country, through match-funding pub teams’ fundraising efforts.
Voice of the Marston’s Big Pub Quiz, Paddy McGuinness, said: “I’m so excited to be working with Marston’s to find the smartest pub in the UK, and support some amazing community causes while we’re at it.
I’m very much looking forward to meeting the winners and community projects to congratulate them in person.
We want as many people as possible to head down to their local to join in each week and give the quiz a go. To the pub!”
Emily Slack, Operator of The Black Diamond, said: “We’re so proud of the locals who came every week and got stuck into the Marston’s Big Pub Quiz. A big thank you to all our family and friends who have helped out and supported us- we couldn’t do it without you!”
“We couldn’t think of a better project to support than the Remember Richard Rice Foundation, which does so much to support the community and honour Richard, who was a close family friend.”
To find your nearest Marston’s pub, visit: https://www.marstonspubs.co.uk