Bouncy castle raid leaves pub deflated
Thieves took a 40ft bouncy castle from a pub beer garden by dragging it over a wall and down the street. It took 90 minutes for three men to fold up the blue and purple inflatable.
They heaved it out of the garden at the Cottage Springs pub, in Crookhay Lane, Hill Top, near West Bromwich. The thieves were filmed on the pub's CCTV struggling to get to grips with the castle, which had been left outside deflated but pegged into the ground. Landlord George Taylor, aged 34, lives on site, but heard nothing as the raiders struck.
"When I got up I went to the bathroom and usually I can see a pinky blue outline through the frosted window, but it wasn't there," he said.
"I ran through to the living room and I saw it was gone and I just thought, 'no, they couldn't have'. I couldn't believe it."
The theft happened at 3.45am on Sunday. The day before, Mr Taylor had hosted a charity fun day where the bouncy castle had been the top attraction.
He says that his takings double on the days when the inflatable is up and because it is so big, it can be clearly seen by people living nearby.
He bought it two years ago, when he took over the licence of the Cottage Springs, paying £1,000 for it second-hand.
Recently he paid out £120 to have repairs made to the stitching, which should make it easily identifiable.
"I think it must have been stolen to order. Why would anyone else want to take it?
"If they keep it around here then someone will see it, because it's not easy to hide," Mr Taylor added.
"You can see them folding it up and trying to drag it over this wall on the CCTV.
"There's scratch marks all along the pavement to the alleyway just down the road, where they suddenly stop."
George has put up an advertising A-board outside the pub asking for people to keep a look out. Police are investigating, and anyone with information about the theft can contact call 0845 113 5000.
