The senior member of a Black Country brewing family described as “one of life’s gentlemen” has been found dead at his home in Stourbridge.

Arthur Batham, of the family-run Batham Breweries in Brierley Hill, was pronounced dead by paramedics at an address in Bridgnorth Road, Wollaston, just after 9am on Thursday.

Police say investigations are continuing but there are no suspicious circumstances. West Midlands Police and the ambulance service said Mr Batham, who was in his 80s, was found collapsed at the house.

Managers of the firm’s 10 Midland pubs were called to the taphouse at the Vine Inn – also known as the Bull and Bladder – in Delph Road, Brierley Hill, to be told the news.

The brewery was founded by Mr Batham’s grandfather, Daniel Batham Senior, in 1882. Helen Budd, aged 56, who has run The Plough Inn, at Shenstone, near Kidderminster, with her husband Rod, 62, for the last 15 years, said staff were all “devastated.”

“We’re all like a big family,” said Mrs Budd.

“We have all been told. We are giving the family a bit of space and time to come to terms with it. Arthur was one of life’s gentlemen. He will be sadly missed.”