'Who steals a kids' bouncy castle?': West Midlands pub owners make vow after bizarre theft - arrest made

The bouncy castle was set up in the outside area of the Why Not Inn in Essington, but it was stolen by two men at around 5.10am on Saturday, with CCTV footage capturing the moment the castle was taken.

A man has since been arrested on suspicion of theft in relation to the bouncy castle.

Pub owner Andy Laverie and manager Kirstie Mitchell have been left to deal with the aftermath of the theft, with Ms Mitchell describing how she found out what had happened.

She said: “We got a call on Saturday from a member of staff who came in about 12.45pm and asked me where the bouncy castle was, so I was telling her that it was in the back garden and she was saying it wasn’t.

“We checked the CCTV and rewound it to see when it had gone and then we found it at around quarter past five when you see two men walk down the side of the pub under the locked barrier, straight into the garden, roll it up and drag it back up the drive.

“They then took it down the road to a car which had the number plate covered, which meant they knew where the camera was going to catch them, and they had hoods up and everything.”

Mr Laverie said it had been a blow for the pub, which he said he had put in a lot of work to rebuild and reopen, and said they weren’t the only pub to have been affected by a theft like this.

He said: “Of all the things that you’d expect people to steal, you wouldn’t think it would be a kid’s bouncy castle from the beer garden.

“At the end of the day, it’s not something that anybody else can use as it’s for kids, but then you lead from that and you speak to other places and they say they’ve had the same thing happen as well.

“All we can do in the future is put alarms down the bottom of the beer garden to stop people taking things, so that if anyone comes in, it’ll set the pub alarm off.”

Both Kirstie and Andy said it was frustrating to have happened, but wouldn’t stop them from being a community pub.

Andy said: “We’ll have to replace it as you can’t let them win and we’ll just have to do something else and spend a bit of money to make sure it can’t be taken again.”

Kirstie said: “It’s hard enough trying to find things to do with the kids, I know this as a mother of two, and they haven’t got this now, but we’re still a community pub and we’ll keep going.”

A spokesman for Staffordshire Police said: “A man has been arrested on suspicion of theft offences after a bouncy castle was reported stolen from a pub in south Staffordshire.

“We were called at 3.20pm on Saturday, July 11 to a premises on Broad Lane in Springhill, Essington, following reports of theft.

“A bouncy castle had been stolen at around 5.10am.

“A 48-year-old man, from Birmingham, has been arrested by colleagues from West Midlands Police on suspicion of theft.

“He remains in police custody while our inquiries continue.

“Anyone with further information, CCTV, dashcam or doorbell footage should call us on 101 quoting incident number 550 of 11 July.

“To report anonymously, call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”