Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Adam May

Wetherspoons' fan travels thousands of miles from home to visit 900 pubs in the UK

A pensioner loves Wetherspoons so much he has visited 900 of the pubs across the UK.

Ale-loving John Hunt has travelled thousands of miles to reach the incredible milestone in just seven years.

The 83 year old keeps his own printed list of the pub chain’s venues and ticks them off as he goes.

The longest journey retired dock worker John has embarked on is from his home in Southampton, Hampshire, to Wick in Scotland - 700 miles.

John - known as Chester by his friends - travels by bus, train or taxi and when he arrives orders a meal and a pint of real ale, with his favourite drink being Abbots ale.

Widower John ticked off his 900th Wetherspoons - in Kingswinford, near Birmingham - two weeks ago.

Ale-loving John The Standing Order in Southampton (Simon Czapp/Solent News)

Data from 2021 shows there are 861 Wetherspoons open in the UK, meaning grandfather John has visited pubs which have since closed or changed hands.

He goes on his mega pub crawls to keep him active.

“I don’t want to stay indoors all the time,” he said.

“I live on my own, you see and that was it, I ain’t gonna sit indoors watching telly, it’s no good for me.”

John is yet to tick off four Wetherspoons in Wales, six in Scotland, and four in Cornwall.

Asked about his favourite venue, John said: “I did like the one in Tunbridge Wells - the opera house and, and [The Palladium] in Llandudno [Wales].

“The opera house one, they still had opera once a year in there.”

John will have to return to Birmingham to tick off one that evaded him.

He said: “Some of them have closed down and some of them are opening new ones up, that’s what gets me.

“I think I did them all in Birmingham until someone came up to me and said ‘have you done that one in Kings Norton yet?’

“I said ‘there was not one there’ and they said ‘there is’. So I’ve got to go up there now.”

He once visited nine pubs in a day in Bournemouth, admitting he was jolly as he left the last venue.

“If you’ve had a pint in every one of them you’ve had a good day,” he joked.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.