![\"Black](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_John-Hughes-2.jpg\")
Black Country publican John Hughes has passed away at the age of 87 (Image: Beacon Hotel)<\/p>\nJohn Hughes reopened his family’s pub and brewery in 1987 and it remains to this dayBlack Country publican John Hughes has passed away at the age of 87 (Image: Beacon Hotel)<\/p>\n
Tributes <\/strong>were paid after the passing of an ‘amazing’ Black Country man who reopened his family’s pub and brewery.<\/p>\n John Hughes started his career in the pub trade at the age of 11 at the Beacon Hotel in Sedgley.<\/p>\n He passed away on June 1 in Kidderminster and next month will mark a day to celebrate his life and legacy.<\/p>\n Read More: <\/strong>Birmingham restaurant where Johnny Depp spent \u00a350k receives apology from council<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Sarah Hughes, John’s grandmother, bought the Beacon Hotel at an auction in 1920 before it eventually closed in 1957.<\/p>\n Three decades later, John reopened the family business in 1987 and changed the brewery name to Sarah Hughes Brewery, a tribute to his grandmother.<\/p>\n Dark Ruby Mild, one of the most popular drinks at the brewery, was discovered when John found Sarah’s recipe in a glasses case.<\/p>\n Despite the passing of John, Dudley & South Staffordshire CAMRA confirmed ownership of pub and brewery has been passed onto Judy Massey, John’s widow.<\/p>\n Speaking to Dudley<\/a> & South Staffordshire<\/a> CAMRA, Beacon Hotel director Simon Massey said: “The pub was their life and they made decisions about it together.<\/p>\n “Our intention is to carry on the business as it is.<\/p>\n “The Beacon needs preserving for future generations. Whatever I can do to keep it the same, I will.”<\/p>\n On social media, Angie Harrold commented: “What a great shame, John was a smashing person.<\/p>\n “He will be sadly missed, but he will be remembered for a very long time for a lot of people.<\/p>\n “He was an amazing man who has left a legacy. Long may it continue in his memory.”<\/p>\n Graham Coyden added: “Sad news, I used to rent a shop off John. He was a nice character.”<\/p>\n And Andrew Randle posted: “Cheers chap. Sad news he’s gone, good news the legacy lives on.”<\/p>\n The funeral for John Hughes will take place on July 7 at All Saints Parish Church in Sedgley.<\/p>\n Following a private wake, the Beacon Hotel will reopen to all customers on 2.30pm the same day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Hughes reopened his family’s pub and brewery in 1987 and it remains to this dayBlack Country publican…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,9163,748,1354,393,4884,25377,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-218530","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-black-country","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-dudley","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-sedgley","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114755214184929116","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_Screenshot-2025-06-25-094140.jpg\")
The Beacon Hotel on Bilston Street, Sedgley(Image: Google Street View)<\/p>\n