Wolverhampton CAMRA Beerwolf Winter 2018 / 19

Feature
Local Legends
When the Wolverhampton branch of CAMRA heard that Kevin and Debbie Benton had
been in charge of the Gunmakers Arms, Bradmore for over 21 years we thought it
would be interesting to talk to them about their impressive tenure at the Marston’s pub.
It was then discovered that Kevin Benton had worked at the pub as a barman before that
and in all has been serving pints there for an incredible 33 years! Wolverhampton
CAMRA’s Rob Taylor popped in to try to discover the secret of Kevin and Debbie’s
longevity..
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Rob Taylor (RT): When and how did you first get involved with the Gunmakers?
Kevin Benton (KB): I was between jobs in February 1985, I popped into the
Gunmakers for a quick drink and after a chat with the bloke behind the bar, he offered
me a job.
Debbie Benton (DB): We first met when I was working at the Roebuck (Penn Road)
as a barmaid and I had gone to the Gunmakers to see a friend who worked there.
When we later got married the licensees at the Roebuck and Gunmakers were like
proud parents.
RT: How did you become licensees of the Gunmakers?
KB & DB: We had shown an interest in having
our own pub and so Banks’s sent us on a manager
training course, we had been asked to pack
ready to move into a pub at the end of it, but
they wouldn’t tell us which one. When we returned
from the training course we were told that
they wanted us to manage the Gunmakers Arms.
It was all a big surprise. Banks’s originally told us
it would be for a maximum of 5 years . . .
that was in December 1996!
RT: How is it that you managed to stay here
beyond the planned 5 years?
KB & DB: After 2 years we started a family, we had history with the pub and liked the
people also we were local ourselves so we thought it was a good place to raise a family
rather than an unknown pub somewhere that may be far away from our families. Our
son and daughter both work at the pub now.
RT: Having been at the Gunmakers for such a long time you must have some good
stories, are there any that you would like to share with us?
KB: Many years ago a group of regulars started bringing unusual foods into the pub
and daring each other to eat them, but it got out of hand when one of them brought a
box of live crickets in. I said no way were they opening the box in the pub. Then we
heard that they had taken the crickets to another pub where lots of the insects had
escaped. The other pub had to be closed and fumigated as you could hear the insects
chirping everywhere.
RT: What have been the biggest changes to the pub industry during your time here
and what impact have they had on your business?
KB: The smoking ban initially had a big impact on us, especially in the colder months
when people would rather drink at home and have a smoke than stand out in the cold,
also the number of people who didn’t like the smokey atmosphere that started to come
to the pub was less than the number of smoking regulars we were losing.
BEERWOLF | Winter 2018