Man reveals his favorite beer cans after selling his 10,300 strong collection | British news

A man is forced to sell the British largest collection of beer cans for £25,000 after it became so big he needed an extension to his house.

Nick West, 65, has amassed an impressive collection of unusual and rare cans for 42 years, collecting 10,300 cans at his peak.

The father of two out North Somerset initially made the 'sincere' decision to reduce his £25,000 collection to just 1,500.

But two years ago, Nick and his wife moved from Langford, North Somerset, to Ledbury, Herefordshire, for a smaller house.

When he moved to smaller digs, Nick eventually had to sell the remaining 1,497 cans because the couple “ran out of room for them.”

And now he only has three left from his once thriving collection.

He sold the remaining cans to a few Italian dealers who had traveled all the way from Italy to pick up his precious collection.

He said: 'It all started when I was 16 years old. I enjoyed collecting things like stamps, but I had just become interested in drinking so I got married the last two times.

'I started collecting cans in 1976 and was extremely passionate about it. So it was a huge blow to see the last part of my life's work disappear out the door. I found it difficult to let them go.'

When Nick had his impressive collection of 10,300 cans, he and his wife, Deborah, 64, had to build an addition to a previous house to make room for the cans.

Later they also moved to a large Victorian house with five bedrooms so he could display them.

But when they moved to a smaller house, he sold 6,000 cans for £13,500, which helped fund his retirement.

A further 1,800 tins were donated to local museum Oakham Treasures in Portbury, Bristol – leaving him with just 1,500.

But Nick has now sold the rest of his collection to beer can dealers in Italy – so his special cans will be found in other collections around the world.

He explained: 'We had some negotiations, just like you, and agreed on a price – so they came over from Italy in a van and spent a few days here. We made the deal and they disappeared with the cans!'

Nick describes the three cans he wanted to keep and why, as he explains: 'The first is a Heineken 275ml (half a pint).

'This was the first can in my collection and dates from July 13, 1975. The second can is again 275ml Hull Brewery Nut Brown Ale: I kept this because I really like the simplicity of the design – definitely a blast from the past .

'The final can is a 330ml can of Nick West Ruby Ale – I designed this myself to celebrate my 40 years of collecting in 2015.'

The oldest beer can in his collection dates from 1936.

Nick's wife, Deborah, bought him a book about beer can collecting, which sparked his passion for collecting.

One of the main reasons Nick was forced to stop collecting was the enormous popularity of canned craft beer.

For the first 40 years he collected between 150 and 250 cans per year.

But after the rise of craft beers, he collected up to 650 a year, which became too much to handle.

Since then, the popularity of canned craft beers has skyrocketed.

Nick estimates that more than 1,000 new craft cans appear in Britain every year, making it impossible to keep up and reaffirming his decision to quit when he did.

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