Is this Britain’s strangest hobby?

A pub enthusiast claims to have Britain’s weirdest hobby - collecting photographs of their floors.
Has he got the strangest hobby?Has he got the strangest hobby?
Has he got the strangest hobby?

Chris Delamere, 28, documents the floor covers in dozens of watering holes and inns.

He says he was first attracted by their psychedelic patterns and unusual colours and became interested in documenting the wear and tear.

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He’s amassed a collection of 50 photographs and is still on the hunt for more.

He said: “Here are surfaces worn thin from daily abuse, pockmarked with gum or ash burns, sticky and peeling around the edges, saturated with split drink and the story of the drink spillers.

“At their dampest and dirtiest, these floors suggest years of social history - maybe not all of it pleasant but often a meeting of minds, a forging of friendships, angry or amorous moments that have gone too far, some make-ups, some break-ups and plenty of people talking complete rubbish.”

Mr Delamere’s interest in what he was walking on began six weeks ago on a fateful pub crawl.

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He said: “I was in the first pub and I looked down at the carpets and suddenly thought that they were so strange because they looked so aggressive - they were something you would never have in your home.

“I thought, ‘I’ve got to start recording this’. I decided to go to different pubs over the city - it’s a good excuse to get out and visit them.

“I haven’t told the pub owners, I wanted to remain anonymous. It’s not really about me as a collection, it’s about the collection.”

Mr Delamere believes that it’s the floor of most pubs that really give the character of the establishment away.

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He said: “Once you start looking at pub floors you start noticing that it is not unusual for pub carpets to be some kind of aggressive psychedelic vomit.

“These tessellating patterns, swirling feathers and spiralling leaves in bright colour are all the more arresting for having been previously ignored.”

Mr Delamere has set up a Twitter account to ask for recommendations for pubs and posts his floor findings online.

He said: “I don’t think people understand why I’m doing it. But I say to them: ‘Why not?’”

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