Early car boot sales are kicked into touch at Stourbridge pub
Car booters will be able to have a lie-in, thanks to a new regular sale being launched by a publican fed up of getting up at the crack of dawn.
James Casey, licensee of the Old Waggon and Horses pub, between Stourbridge and Kidderminster, is turning over the field at the back of the pub to regular car boot sales, starting tomorrow.
Cars with goods to sell can arrive from 11am and the sale itself starts at noon, running until 6pm.
Mr Casey and his wife, Rachel, who both aged 29, are fans of car boot sales themselves but were fed up with getting up at 5am for them.
"It doesn't feel like a day off work if you have to get up that early," explained Mr Casey, who took over the running of the Waggon and Horses, in the hamlet of Ismere, in October.
"Nobody likes getting up at 5am and we didn't want to do the norm, so decided our car boots would be held during the afternoons."
Mr Casey now has permission from Wyre Forest District Council to hold car boot sales every Saturday for the next 13 weeks on the land.
He said a lot of interest had been shown after spreading the word around on social networking sites for Kidderminster and Stourbridge.
"People have told us it's a brilliant idea – fantastic hours, much better than first thing on a Sunday morning," said Mr Casey.
"The joy is the pub has a lot of land – about two to three acres in total. It won't be a massive car boot sale.
"But we reckon there will be about 60 car loads of booters – and about the same number again parked up to buy in the other half of the field behind the pub.
"We've been looking at ways of attracting people to the pub and, although we don't expect we will raise a lot of money from it, we will plough whatever proceeds there are back into the business."
It will be a busy weekend for James, Rachel and the rest of the team at the pub because on Sunday they are hosting a fun day and rally, which has been organised by the Wyre Forest V-dub Club.
Volkswagens of all shapes and sizes, and ranging from camper vans to Beetles and also Golfs, will be on display in the field from midday until 8pm.
There will also be an outdoor bar for drinks and a bouncy castle for the children to enjoy.
