(Picture: Latchford family / SWNS)

Sure, not every family would have the stamina to pull it off.

Despite the fact it all started with decade-old passing comment, it’s ended with trips to over 1,000 Wetherspoon pubs over the UK and Ireland.

The Latchford family’s odyssey began when mum Sheila, 61, made a promise to son Christy, then 17, which his autism had him take at face value.

‘Our daughter Amy works at the Penny and Black Wetherspoon in Kidderminster and when she started Christy was not yet 18,’ said Kidderminster local Sheila.


‘We wanted to take him in to show her working behind the bar but in those days they had a really strict rule which meant anyone under 18 had to have a meal.



‘We had just eaten so left. I said rather foolishly, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, “don’t worry, when you are 18 we will go to all of them”.

‘When you say something like that to someone with autism it is taken seriously. The minute he turned 18 he was back in the Penny and Black in Kidderminster.

‘We were never intending to do them all, but had promised him and he wouldn’t let us forget it.

(Picture: Latchford family / SWNS)

The family have visited pubs in Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Weston-Super-Mare and many others across the nation, plus three separate trips to Northern and Southern Ireland.

So far, the only ones remaining on the to-do list are the post-security pubs in Heathrow Terminal 5 – though Christy is adamant that they’ll be checked off when they next go on holiday.

If pressed to offer an opinion on the best one they’ve been to, it’s The Caley Picture House, in Edinburgh that gets the unanimous family seal of approval.

‘But there are so many really good ones,’ says Christy.

‘We also all really like the Cabot Court hotel in Weston-super-Mare which is right on the seafront.’

Yet as the number of pubs to visit has shrunk, the harder the task has become, something the family attributes to having to now wait for new ones to open.

(Picture: Latchford family / SWNS)

Sheila, husband Keith, 63, and Christy took six years to do the first 900 but in the last four years have been tougher going, with Tim Martin’s chain not expanding fast enough to satisfy their appetite.

Sheila, a part-time civil servant, added: ‘It was a lot easier when there were loads to do, we could just fly up to Glasgow and walk around and come straight back.

‘We would often book the night away, next week we are going to the new one in St Pancras when it opens.

‘We only target openings now and keep a close eye on the website and are part of the Wetherspoon appreciation society group on Facebook.’

The big 1,000th Wetherspoon trip was a touch anti-climatic.

‘The latest one in Midsomer Norton was our 1,000th,’ Sheila said. ‘They don’t serve Champagne anymore but we had a nice bottle of sparkling wine instead.



‘It was a real landmark but unfortunately we were only there for a limited time but had a good look around.’

A typical pit stop might include coffees, pints or a hot meal depending on the time of the day, or length of the trip. It doesn’t matter if it’s one they’ve been to before – they’ll still make a beeline for an old favorite.

‘The prices are very reasonable but we also love the surroundings,’ says Christy. ‘They refurbish a lot of old buildings and there are lots of converted churches, banks, theaters etc.

It’s a point Christy’s father Keith concurs with.

‘here are some beautiful conversions of old premises and some of the newer pubs in particular are fantastic.

‘It is a great hobby for us together and Christy loves it.’

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