Honeymoons should be about enjoying quality time with a new spouse – but Ashford’s most unromantic man spent his watching football.

When Shirley and David Bew tell people they stayed in their hotel room for 90 minutes, most won’t assume it was to watch Tottenham Hotspur beat Wimbledon in the quarter-final of the FA Cup.

But that is exactly what the Spurs supporter did while his new wife sat and read.

Shirley, now 55, recalled the day in April 1987, saying: “He watched the whole match, on our honeymoon, in our room, even shouting out when Spurs scored.

“They won 2-0 and that was his highlight of the day. Not mine, I sat and read my magazine.”

The couple met as teenagers at the former Dusty’s nightclub in East Hill, now Liquid and Envy, when David was talked into buying drinks for Shirley and five of her friends.

Shortly afterwards she nervously invited him to a party.

He accepted but then didn’t show up – because he went to watch Spurs vs Aston Villa and forgot to turn up.

Perhaps the reason for David’s lack of romance stems from being turned down the first time he proposed to his now wife.

She added: “When he first asked me to marry him I said ‘no’. I wasn’t quite ready. I needed to know I was sure. A few months later he asked again and I said yes.

“I knew he was into football before I married him.

“He used to be a referee so he watches it as if he’s refereeing the match and shouts so all the neighbours can hear. I have no interest in football at all. I just switch off when it’s on the television. I like dressmaking.”

But despite him not having a romantic bone in his body, Shirley said she wouldn’t swap her husband of nearly 27 years for the world.

“For all his football faults I do love him,” she said.

“He is very kind, he’s just not romantic. Sometimes he remembers to buy me a card but forgets where he’s put it and finds it months later.

“And he never wraps presents, just gives them to me in a carrier bag.

“I do buy him cards and presents, I’m quite good at that. I quite often give him hints, especially coming up to Valentine’s Day. Sometimes I’d just like some flowers.

“I can’t change him. I know he was quite embarrassed about winning this competition but I think it’s funny. It’s payback time!”

The couple were married at Christ Church in Beaver Road on March 14, 1987, and spent their honeymoon in Folkestone.

When asked whether he thought being dubbed Ashford’s most unromantic man was fair, David, 49, replied: “I don’t know, I’m just me.

"I don’t feel bad about watching football on our honeymoon – we deliberately planned our wedding for a day when there were no FA Cup matches on – that was quite romantic.

“I haven’t bought her flowers yet because I’m just looking for the right ones! I don’t want to pay £3 for flowers and have them die in a week.

“Also, if I buy her flowers all the time she’ll come to expect them. But if I only buy them once in a while she’ll be really pleased with them. I do make her tea in the morning.

“Will winning this competition change me? I don’t know, it depends how much stick I get about it from my family!”

Shirley and David Bew entered the search for Ashford’s most unromantic man organised by the Kentish Express and The Pheasant in Trinity Road, Eureka Place.

The couple won a three-course meal and a bottle of bubbly at the pub, and Shirley will receive a rose and a box of chocolates.