Mad O’Rourke’s Pie Factory in Tipton stands on a site that has been a place of drinking and social life for well over a century. A licensed house existed on the corner of Hurst Lane and Sedgley Road West from at least the mid-nineteenth century, originally known as the Five Ways Inn. In 1923 this was replaced by a purpose-built public house called the Doughty Arms, named after William Woolley Doughty, a prominent local councillor and former chairman of Tipton Urban District Council. The solid inter-war building that went up at that time still forms the core of what visitors see today, even though it has since been expanded and theatrically reworked.
The transformation into Mad O’Rourke’s began in 1987 when the Doughty Arms was bought by the Little Pub Company. Rather than running it as a conventional local, the new owners re-invented it as a deliberately quirky, food-led Black Country attraction. The name “Mad O’Rourke’s Pie Factory” was chosen to give it character and a sense of fun, and the interior was gradually filled with memorabilia, slogans and themed rooms to create the feeling that customers were stepping into a slightly surreal factory devoted to pies. From the start, the idea was to serve filling, traditional food in generous portions and to make the pub a destination rather than just a neighbourhood drinking place.
The pies themselves became the centre of the brand during this period. They were not an old local tradition attached to the Doughty Arms, but a product of the late-1980s reinvention, when the new owners built a menu and an identity around classic British pies and comfort food. Over time, this grew into the Pie Factory’s signature, drawing people from across the Black Country and beyond who came specifically to eat there rather than simply to drink.
In terms of ownership, the pub went through several phases as the concept developed. After being created and established by Colm and Sheena O’Rourke under the Little Pub Company, the business was sold in 1999 to Ushers of Trowbridge. In August 2000 it was then bought by Peter Towler, who had already been closely involved with running the operation. From that point on, the Towler family became the owners and custodians of Mad O’Rourke’s, expanding the site, strengthening the food offer and turning it into a well-known Black Country institution.
Under the Towlers, the building was extended and adapted so that it became far more than a single pub. It grew into a rambling complex with multiple dining areas, bars and themed spaces, as well as bedrooms, all wrapped around the original 1920s structure. The look was intentionally eccentric, reinforcing the idea that this was not a normal pub but a place with its own personality and mythology.
By the early twenty-first century, Mad O’Rourke’s had become one of Tipton’s best-known landmarks, surviving changing drinking habits and economic downturns by relying on its strong food reputation and loyal customer base. After roughly twenty-five years in the same ownership, the business was put on the market in 2025 as Peter Towler looked toward retirement, marking the possible end of a long chapter in the Pie Factory’s story. Whatever happens next, the site remains a rare example of a traditional Black Country pub that reinvented itself so successfully that it became famous in its own right.
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