A man has been forced to sell the UK's largest collection of beer cans for £25k - after it got so big he needed an extension. <br /><br />Nick West, 65, had been gathering an impressive collection of unusual and rare cans for 42 years and had amassed 10,300 of them at his peak.<br /><br />The father-of-two from North Somerset initially made the “heartfelt” decision to trim down his £25,000 collection - to just 1,500.<br /><br />But two years ago, the couple moved to Ledbury, Herefordshire from Langford, in North Somerset - having previous lived in Clevedon for 33 years.<br /><br />Moving to a smaller home meant Nick had to finally sell the remaining 1,497 cans because the couple had 'no space left for them'.<br /><br />And he has now been left with just THREE in his once booming collection.<br /><br />He sold the remaining cans to a couple of Italian dealers who travelled all the way from Italy especially to collect his precious collection.<br /><br />Nick said: "I first started collecting cans in 1976 and was extremely passionate about it - so it was a massive wrench to see the last part of my lifetime’s work disappear out of the door.<br /><br />"I found it tricky to let them go ."<br /><br />When Nick had his impressive collection of 10,300 tinnies, he and his wife, Deborah, 64, had to build an extension on a previous home to make space for the cans.<br /><br />They also later moved into a large five-bedroomed Victorian house so he could have them on display.<br /><br />Though when they moved to a smaller house, he sold 6,000 of the cans for a sum of £13,500 which is helping to fund his retirement.<br /><br />A further 1,800 cans were given to local museum Oakham Treasures in Portbury, Bristol - leaving him with just 1,500.<br /><br />But Nick has since sold the rest of his collection to beer can dealers in Italy - so his special tinnies will find themselves in other collections around the world.<br /><br />Now he has his favourite three left.<br /><br />He explained: "We had some negotiations, as you do, and agreed a price - so they travelled over from Italy in a van and spent a few days here.<br /><br />"We did the deal and they disappeared with the cans!"<br /><br />Nick could not bear to part with all of his collection, however, so kept a remaining three close to his heart.<br /><br />He said: "I couldn't let them all go."<br /><br />Nick describes the three cans he chose to kept and why, as he explains: "The first is a Heineken 275ml (a half pint).<br /><br />"This was the first can in my collection and dates back to 13 July 1975.<br /><br />"The second can is again 275ml Hull Brewery Nut Brown Ale: I kept this one because I really like the simplicity of the design - definitely a blast from the past.<br /><br />"The final can is a 330ml can Nick West Ruby Ale - I designed this myself to celebrate my 40 years of collecting in 2015.<br /><br />"I commissioned a small run of 50 cans containing a variety of different beers."<br /><br />Nick, who worked in marketing until retiring in 2017, recalled the start of his beer collecting journey back when he was just a teenager.<br /><br />He said: “It all started when I was 16 years old - I enjoyed collecting things like stamps but I had just
