Wetherspoon's pubs have a legion of fans who love the cheap and cheerful prices but Nottingham truck driver Tim Clarke is what you'd call a superfan. The 66-year-old grandfather has stepped inside no fewer than 240 different Wetherspoon's pubs in the last five years - and he has the paper menus to prove it.
He says: "II ask the staff before I take them. The big menu tells you the history of the pub. "I write on the date and if my favourite football team, Nottingham Forest, are playing, I put the match score on.
"I've got two folders, one downstairs and one in the attic. They're all filed alphabetically under counties. I don't know what I'm going to do with them. My missus always says, 'Why do we have to take them?', but I tell her that one day the grandkids might want to look back at the history and say, 'The pints were cheap in those days'."
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Tim, who loves the fact her can visit his favourite boozer all over the UK, said the chain should have a passport to stop him taking the menus home, reports The Mirror.. The Asda delivery driver Tim and his wife Anne, 63, began their Wetherspoon adventure in 2018 and have ticked off hundreds since, stopping for a refillable coffee or pint along the way.
He said: "We first started collecting menus when we got a directory in 2018. You don't get them anymore but it lists all the pubs by county. "We've visited 240 so far, but we went to lots before then, so it's even more than that.
"We've travelled as far as Edinburgh for a week's holiday, and we've done all of the pubs in Nottingham, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire."
Tim's favourite meal is a traditional large breakfast, which includes a fried egg, bacon, sausage, baked beans, two hash browns, slice of toast and butter, for a fiver.
"I like their breakfasts the most, so wherever we go, we always head to 'Spoons first. They food is always the same and you know exactly what to expect," Tim said. "You get limitless cups of coffee with it and it's a way to break up the journey as well. I don't know if I'm supposed to, but I do collect the paper menus.
Even over the last five years, Tim has noticed big changes. As well as Spoons shutting down old pubs, he said the "prices have gone up and you get less food".
"Back in the old days, you used to get really big helpings. But I guess that's the same with everywhere now," he added. If it's later in the day, Tim and Anne will stop for a Thatchers Cider or Stowford Press, and sometimes stay in a Wetherspoon hotel.
"We've just come back from staying in a hotel in Brecon, Wales. It's handy so you don't have to worry about driving," Tim said. "Every Thursday night, the lads go out and we have the chargrilled chicken or curry. You can't go wrong with their fish and chips either. "The thing with Spoons is that you don't expect top quality, but it's not bad quality either, it's just in the middle."
After taking a trip to all of his local boozers, Tim is struggling to travel further afield and has plans to buy a campervan to continue his mission. "When we get a campervan, we'll do Cornwall. It does encourage us to go places. We've been to towns that we probably wouldn't have gone to," he said.
"It's a bit of fun too. If we've been driving for hours, we'll look at the directory to find where we can stop off, rather than struggle to find somewhere new. "You pay £2.50 for a pint of cider instead of £7 like a normal pub. It's a damn sight cheaper. You can buy a round for a tenner."
Tim also uses the app to find pubs and hotels nearby, but prefers a copy that he can physically hold. "I think Wetherspoon should have a passport. I wrote to them suggesting they bring one out, that can be stamped so people know where the pubs are," he said.
"It would give people an incentive to go. There's definitely a market for it. I think they're missing a trick here!"
Tim has visited 240 out of 826 Wetherspoon pubs in the UK, and if they take his advice to make a passport, he'll definitely visit more.
