A beer lover will complete his challenge to visit all 875 Wetherspoon pubs in the British Isles - which left him with a whopping £30,000 bar tab.<br /><br />David Bingham, 60, has spent four years enjoying the “longest pub crawl in history”, often travelling thousands of miles every month.<br /><br />He estimates his final tab for his epic mission is close to £30,000, including travel fares, drinks and overnight stays.<br /><br />He will celebrate the end of his 875-pub challenge when he sinks a pint at The Flying <br />Horse on Wednesday (7/6).<br /><br />The boozer is after the security barrier at Gatwick, meaning David had to buy an airline ticket before being allowed inside.<br /><br />The retired forklift driver said: “The cheapest air ticket I could get was to Shannon in <br />Ireland which doesn’t have any Wetherspoon pubs but that doesn’t matter because I’ll have completed the challenge before I get there.<br /><br />“It’s been a wonderful journey across Britain and I’ve visited so many places which I would never have gone to if I’d not been checking off the pubs.<br /><br />“I call myself a pub-spotter because I like to go down my directory of Spoons pubs and cross them off one by one.<br /><br />“I daresay it’ll be strange to finally finish the challenge but I’m keen to revisit some of the ones I went to in the early days.”<br /><br />David, from West Hallam, Derbys., came up with his Spoons challenge after his partner Una Cooper, 63, bought him a £3 Wetherspoon directory off eBay.<br /><br />The couple took it to their local branch, The Observatory, in nearby Ilkeston, and David decided to visit every single one on the list.<br /><br />His challenge has taken him to 875 Spoons, including more than 40 which have since closed.<br /><br />David is often accompanied by tee-total Una, with the couple taking public transport to tick off the pubs.<br /><br />As well as trains and buses, the couple took a hovercraft to reach the Man in the Moon pub on the Isle of Wight.<br /><br />Last month they knocked off nine more during a ten-day cruise up the West coast of Ireland.<br /><br />David, who has one daughter, a stepson and one grandson, said: “I love going in Wetherspoon pubs because they are all different buildings.<br /><br />“Many of them are old fire stations, post offices, churches and other beautiful sites. <br /><br />“I call them boxes of fun because you never know where they’ll be."<br /><br />David often ticks off dozens of pubs every day and only has a pint in his favourite ones.<br /><br />During a four-day trip to Scotland, he knocked off 46 boozers before celebrating with a pint of San Miguel and a bottle of Heineken.<br /><br />His favourite Spoons are the Royal Victoria Pavilion in Ramsgate, Kent; The Corn <br />Exchange in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk; the Winter Gardens in Harrogate; and the Caley Picture House in Edinburgh.<br /><br />David now says Una will plan their weekend breaks, but he hasn’t ruled out another Spoons challenge in the future.<br /><br />He said: “There are 57 Wetherspoon hotels across the country and Ireland and I’ve only stayed in one so I’m already thinking that’s just 56 to go.”
