The Wetherspoon odyssey! Superfan has visited 736 ‘Spoons across the UK – and plans to hit 750 pubs by the end of the year
- Wetherspoon superfan Neil Wesson has visited 736 of the pubs across the UK
- Mr Wesson said he and other enthusiasts loved travelling to visit the boozers
- He revealed his favourite Wetherspoon pub was in a stunning old opera house
- The pub chain fanatic also made it to the newest branch in Birmingham station
A Wetherspoon fanatic has journeyed the length and breadth of the country to visit 736 of the company’s pubs – including on his golden wedding anniversary.
Neil Wesson said he is still thirsting for more as he revealed his favourite ‘Spoons in the UK.
The 736th Wetherspoon Mr Wesson visited was the pub chain’s newest out of almost 840 – a £2.4 million branch in Birmingham New Street Station.
With a pub odyssey to Scotland already booked, the retired grandfather aims to have reached the 750 mark by the year’s end.
Asked why he spent so much of his time visiting Wetherspoon, Mr Wesson said: ‘I’ve got two children, four grandchildren… and I’ve been to 75 countries. I’ve lived! And I’m still enjoying life after 20 years in retirement!
‘I retired at 52 and I’m 73 now. I was a managerial supervisor in logistics at Land Rover and, once you turned 50, they used to like making people offers to leave. So I talked it over with my wife, Pamela, and did – and haven’t looked back.
‘I’m a railway enthusiast trying all of the different railways around the country and it seems a lot of Wetherspoon fans do both things at once. It’s all about building up your collection and I’ve always liked collecting things.
Neil Wesson has visited 736 Wetherspoon pubs across the UK and wants to see even more
Mr Wesson said The Opera House pub in Tunbridge Wells was his favourite pub to visit
‘We had our golden wedding anniversary dinner at the Pen Cob Wetherspoon in Pwllheli, north Wales. Visiting all of these Wetherspoon pubs gives you something to do and it’s good exercise because they can be a mile or more from your railway station.
‘There’s so many of them, with many in really beautiful buildings including former cinemas, theatres, churches. We always love reading about the history of the new places we are in, especially when that information was included on the menus.’
The Wetherspoon superfan also revealed his favourite pub out of the near-700 he has visited.
He said: ‘I went to was the Assembly Rooms in Solihull. That’s a lovely building but they moved out. My favourite is an old theatre in Tunbridge Wells, the Opera House.
The pub fanatic recently went to the opening of the newest Wetherspoon in Birmingham New Street Station
‘You can’t just go to a pub, you have to go in and buy something, whether it’s a meal, half a pint or a coffee – lots of people do it. I think the most I’ve done in one day is eight! I love ham, egg and chips at lunchtime and Weatherspoon curries are excellent at night – they all include a pint, too..’
Mr Wesson also said he met Wetherspoon’s famous chairman Tim Martin, who also regularly visits the pubs, on one of his many outings.
He said: ‘I was on an organised tram visit to Blackpool and went to The Thomas Drummond in Fleetwood.
‘I thought I recognised the guy at the bar and said: “Are you Tim Martin?” I told him I’d been to hundreds of Wetherspoon pubs and he offered to buy me a pint.
‘That was nice of him, but I didn’t have it. ‘I said “Thank you, but I’ve just had one… and I need to go to visit another Wetherspoon!”.’