To study the dynamic events leading to impaired cell‐cell adhesion upon transition to the invasive phenotype of colorectal cancer (CRC), we examined three distinct β‐catenin expression patterns (membranous, cytoplasmic, and nuclear) in the paired samples of the primary tumours (P) and their metastatic lesions (M). β‐catenin expression was detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in 33 pairs of the primary CRC and their metastases. In a pair‐wise (P‐M) comparison, the membranous index (MI) was significantly different between P and M (p=0.036, Wilcoxon Signed‐Ranks test), while cytoplasmic index (CI) and nuclear index (NI) values did not significantly deviate between P and M. MI in primary tumours was inversely related to the patient's age (p=0.04) and tumour grade (p=0.03), while patients with low MI in M had a high rate of metastasis at diagnosis (p=0.06). CI in P was lower in patients with LN involvement (p=0.02) and in advanced tumour stage (p=0.002). Tumours of the ascending colon had the highest CI in their M (p=0.04). Interestingly, high MI of the M lesions was a significant predictor of favourable overall survival (OS) in univariate (Kaplan‐Meier) survival analysis (p=0.035). In conclusion, significant aberrations in β‐catenin expression probably take place in CRC cells during the development of metastatic phenotype, but a change from membrane expression to cytoplamic and/or nuclear expression is not a prerequisite for metastasis in all cases.