Benjamin Bennett, who was Mayor of Dunstable in 1871 and 1872, was a prominent local businessman. His father, also named Benjamin Bennett, ran a hat factory in High Street North. Benjamin Jnr, who had trained as a lawyer, took over the business in 1865 when his father suffered a stroke. He expanded the business, bought a second hat factory in Luton and then went into the beer-brewing industry with great success. He purchased North-Western Brewery’s factory in Chiltern Road in 1887. Bennett’s Brewery, and its associated public houses, became very well-known locally. He died, childless, in 1911 and his widow provided the funds to create Bennett’s Memorial Recreation Ground in Bull Pond Lane.