YouTube star Beard Meats Food visits Surfleet Seas End's The Ship Inn for rib challenge and gives pub a big business boost

A Surfleet Seas End pub has been overwhelmed by its new-found internet fame after drawing the attention of a YouTuber and his 2.5 million followers.

Groups of hungry revellers have been packing out The Ship Inn over the past week after internet sensation ‘Beard Meats Food’, aka Adam Moran, visited the pub to take on an enormous food challenge.

The competitive eater, who has 2.5million subscribers to his channel, filmed his trip to the pub in October, where he got stuck into a ribs challenge by devouring a 5lb rack coated in sticky sauce.

Pub owners Susan and Colin Parker were delighted to see Adam - and even happier when the video garnered the attention of more than one million people online.

Susan said: “I’m delighted with it and it’s very overwhelming.

“January in a pub is usually a write off and you have to muster through as best you can, but this has given us a huge boost.

“We’ve had people in from all over coming to try out the challenge, from places including Lincoln, St Neots and Essex.

“It was a lot of fun and he is such a nice guy."

Susan said that a follower of Adam's had let him know about the challenge.

She said: "He came in October and everyone fangirled when he turned up.

“The video didn’t go up for a while - and we wondered if maybe it wasn’t such a big deal from him afterwards - but when it went up my phone went berserk.”

At the time of going to press, more than 1.7 million hungry viewers had watched the video.

Adam can be seen taking just over 23 minutes to complete the challenge - 22 minutes ahead of the time limit.

His photo is ready and waiting to be hung on the wall of fame - alongside just two other victorious challengers who have beaten Colin’s huge meal.

Susan said: “It’s a recipe Colin developed so it’s 100% down to him.

“We’ve had it on the menu for about six or nine months.

“It’s a massive accolade for him - he follows Adam online and wanted to invite him down.

“It’s done wonders for us.

“We went through 11 racks of ribs from Friday to Saturday but we are now back up to rib capacity thanks to Hargreaves in Pinchbeck, which supplies all of our meat.

“We are so thankful to them as if we couldn’t get it from them we’d be lost.

“We’ve had five genuine challenges since the video went out but only one has managed to complete it.

“Over a million people have viewed the video online and I thought we would have maybe a week of it but it’s continuing and people are seeing it all over the world.”

If you’re brave enough to tackle the mighty meaty meal, The Ship is taking bookings now - with some advance warning needed for those who would like to order the ribs.

The meal costs £30 and those who complete it win their own custom made shirt to wear with pride.

l To watch the video of Adam’s visit, go to the ‘Beard Meats Food’ YouTube channel.