Parents keep promise to son when he turned 18
BRISTOL EDINBURGH
BY TOM BEVAN A FAMILY have visited all 1000 Wetherspoon pubs in the UK after their autistic son held them to a “throwaway” comment they made a decade ago.
The Latchfords have spent 10 years touring Britain and Ireland and confessed that an Edinburgh pub was the favourite out of them all.
Their odyssey began with a promise mum Sheila, 61, made to son Christy, then 17, which, due to his autism, he took literally.
The family visited Wetherspoons in Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and Shelia said The Caley Picture House, in the capital, has been their favourite.
They ticked off 900 in the first six years.
Sheila, of Kidderminster, Worcestershire, said: “Our daughter Amy works at the Penny and Black Wetherspoon in Kidderminster and when she started Christy was not yet 18.
“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 foolishly, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, ‘Don’t worry, when you’re 18 we’ll go to all of them’.
“When you say 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.
“It didn’t occur to us it could be doable until I had to go to Scotland to work. They drove me up and we went to ones in Dundee and Edinburgh and it just went from there.”
The chain currently have about 900 pubs open across the UK but some of the ones the Latchford family have previously visited have since closed.
Sheila, husband Keith, 63, and Christy took six years to do the first 900 but in the last four years they have had to wait for new ones to open.
Sheila, a part-time civil servant, added: “We only target openings now and keep a close eye on the website and are part of the Wetherspoon appreciation society on Facebook.
“But as far as we know, we have done every other one in the UK and Ireland.”
Sheila added that of those they’ve visited, it was one in Scotland that left the biggest impression.
She said: “The Caley Picture House in Edinburgh is our favourite but there are so many really good ones.”
Keith, a full time carer for Christy, now 28, said: “There 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.”
Wetherspoons founder and chairman Tim Martin congratulated the family on their achievement.
He said: “We thoroughly appreciate their loyalty and commitment and trust they will continue to visit our pubs for many more years to come.”
SHEILA LATCHFORD ON WETHERSPOONS TRIPS