Award for Bewdley landlady after 35 years at pub

Denise Eaton, aged 61, has dedicated decades of her life to running The Old Waggon and Horses and serving the community of Wribbenhall in Bewdley. 

The red-brick pub is on the main Kidderminster Road and at various times of the year could easily be identified by a huge Wolverhampton Wanderers banner or a bouncy castle. 

Born in Wribbenhall, Denise’s first encounter with the industry began when her daughter was just 11 months old and, to make ends meet, she took evening bar work at the local social club. 

The next step, when her husband decided to change jobs in the early 1980s, was for the pair to take on the management of The Cock and Magpie, a riverside Banks’s house in the centre of Bewdley. 

In 1986, the then Tenant of the Old Waggon and Horses tipped off Denise of his intention to retire. Denise moved back across the river to Wribbenhall, where Denise took to the role of serving beer and her community with a passion.

In 2009, Denise had a shock phone call from a representative of West Midland Co-op advising her that Banks’s, now Marstons, had sold the pub from under them. 
There followed a very worrying time, with the Co-op eventually selling the property to a developer. The outcome was that the vast majority of the car park was lost to housing development, but Denise carried on regardless and the pub was saved. 

Denise Eaton Denise has run it single-handed since 2011 with an all-female crew. Its ethos is to be a traditional local serving the community with good beers and good pub food. 

During Covid 19 Lockdowns, a series of initiatives kept the pub and the community going. Food and drink were available to be collected through the front bay window, and later delivery by vintage cycle with basket was introduced.

An annual coach trip to the Ascot races had to be postponed for two years and the races were brought to the pub on TV. When the pub re-opened and users had to register their visits, the information was used for a weekly prize draw.

The mum-of-two and grandmother of six said: "I've got no plans to retire. I've started stepping back a bit and releasing the reins to others - but I don't really like it. 

"I've got good staff behind me and they all help out so I'm lucky.

"It's not just a pub to me. It's part of my life and it always has been. It's my baby. 

"We've had some rough times and we thought we were going to lose it but we didn't fall back.

"It's more to me than just a pub. I'm the Waggon and the Waggon is me."

Wyre Forest CAMRA has organised a lunchtime celebration of women brewers to mark International Women’s Day 2022 on March 8 at the pub, from 1pm onwards.

The pub will be showcasing HopShed Pekin, a beer from a woman brewer who also grows her own hops.

Denise herself will also be presented with a special CAMRA Award on the day.