They have covered the length and breadth of Britain in their quest to visit every Wetherspoon pub, racking up more than 900 to date.
Perennial travellers Alan and Agnieszka Forbes ticked one more off this week at the opening of a £3.2 million venue in a former high street bargain store, where they shared their top five picks with Metro.
They made an early morning start to get to The Dictum of Kenilworth for 8am on Tuesday, and were highly impressed by No.907 on their list.
The former travel industry workers, from Surrey, have criss-crossed the globe on their adventures, sometimes couch surfing with local hosts, or hopping to and from tiny airports, but say exploring new parts of the UK on the growing Wetherspoon map is just as exciting.
‘This pub is really nice, it’s high up on our list of favourites,’ said Agnieszka of the Dictum, which is named after a 759-year-old peace treaty.
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‘The reasons we keep coming to the pubs is because it takes us to different parts of the country and for me, not being born in the UK, there’s so much history.
‘When you look around there is so much history on the walls, it’s amazing, I’m learning a lot.’
Alan added: ‘There is only one new one we haven’t been to, on the Isle of Man, and we have our flights booked at the end of August to go there for two days.’
Not content with racking up almost 1,000 visits — they are now going back over pubs they have been to before, to refresh their memories.
Asked if visiting Wetherspoons as a couple is key to a happy marriage, Alan replied: ‘When you’ve got a wife who drags you to the pub you can’t really go wrong can you?’
‘It’s like a marriage made in heaven.
‘When my wife says, “Let’s go to every Wetherspoon!”, what can I say other than, “That’s a good idea!”.’
Alan, 64, and Agnieszka, 47, say it is a ‘long way’ to reach 1,000 visits, so they are taking it in stages as new pubs open up each year.
They spoke as hundreds of punters and the town’s mayor descended on the Dictum, which has been converted from a former discount store.
The venue is named after the pronouncement to reconcile the rebels of the Second Barons’ War — a group of whom held out in the town’s castle — with the royal government of England.
Asked what visitors to the Dictum will make of it, Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin told Metro: ‘Hopefully, they’ll say, “Strewth, these Wetherspoon guys don’t hold back on their investment. From now on, Paris, Rome and Kenilworth will be the main European tourist destinations…”’
Other new Wetherspoon pubs due to open are the Sun Wharf in London Bridge, previously The London Dungeon in Tooley Street, The Sir Alexander Fleming in Paddington, named after the eminent physician who discovered penicillin in nearby Queen Mary’s Hospital, the Sigered, King of Essex in Basildon, a nod to the town’s Saxon origins, and The Chiltern, set in a former silent picture house in Beaconsfield.
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