The sign of the Dukes Head can be traced back to at least 1830. The pub is listed at 66 Duke Street in an 1878 reference, but the property now has the address of 71 Duke Street. It is an ordinary terraced house with absolutely nothing to indicate that it was once licensed as a pub.
Mary Hardy is listed as the occupier / licensee of the Dukes Head in 1870. She owned the Dukes Head in 1891 and she ran it as a free house, without tie from any brewery. The annual rateable value was £13.10s.0d. and it was licensed as a beer house. By 1903 the Dukes Head had been acquired by the Cirencester Brewery. It is very unlikely that we will ever find out what beers were for sale at the Dukes Head before it was bought by the Cirencester Brewery, or indeed if the locals positively welcomed the opportunity to drink beer that might have been previously hard to find in Cheltenham. For those beer drinkers not particularly enamoured with the local brew from the Original Brewery in Cheltenham, the opportunity to drink Cirencester beers must have been most welcome.
It is not yet known precisely when the Dukes Head closed, but it would appear to be before 1941.
Landlords at the Dukes Head include:
1841,1851 Richard Savory
1861 Anne Savory
1870,1871 Mary Hardy
1878 Henry Morgan
1883,1892 James Henry Morgan
1901,1902 William George Davis
1903,1931 Reuben Lee (R. Lea in 1911,1922)
