I’m a Subbuteo superfan & my collection of 600 teams is worth £10k – my wife & I had to move to a bigger house
A SUBBUTEO superfan had to move to a bigger house before his wife blew the whistle on his collection.
Stewart Grant, 39, has more than 600 different teams.
He also builds his own stadia to play in his converted garage.
Stewart’s parents gave him his first Subbuteo set aged seven after the 1990 Italy World Cup.
He started collecting again in 2014 and now has sets dating back to the 1950s, totalling up to £10,000.
The pawnbroker built his first stadium in the loft of the flat he shared with his wife.
They moved in 2017 but his collection took over the living and dining rooms.
Stewart said: “My wife was getting absolutely sick of looking at it all day, so we started to look for a place which could fit the collection.”
In 2019 the couple moved to a house with converted garage in Southend, Essex, which is Stewart’s Subbuteo sanctuary.
The Arsenal fan also runs a fortnightly club in nearby Rayleigh.
He said: “She’s secretly glad I’ve got a hobby and somewhere I can go to as it means I get out of her way.
“There’s nothing quite like it, the nostalgia, the pure joy.
“It really does make you feel like a kid again.”