The Admiral Benbow was located on the banks of the River Avon. The inn was also known by other names during its history. It appears to have been called the Mermaid in 1670. In the Pigots 1830 Gloucestershire Directory the premises is referred to as the Severn Trow. The last name of the quayside pub was the Admiral Benbow.
There are no records of the Admiral Benbow in the 1891 and 1903 licensing books of Gloucestershire pubs.
From ‘Tewkesbury Pubs’ by B.R. Linnell (1972/ second edition 1996)
“When old Benbow runs round the Ham” is a phrase that has passed into local folklore, signifying an event which is unlikely to happen. Admiral Benbow was renowned for his battling on after his legs got shot off. His effigy sat for many years in a niche under the gable end of a house on the Quay. Last occupied by Moses Coopey, the house was demolished in 1935 at which time the Benbow supposedly went too. However, of “In vino Veritas” holds true the facts are otherwise. Some forty years after the event the writer enjoyed several pints with a stranger who claimed to have salvaged the figure from the skip to which it had been consigned. He described a figure about three feet tall, broken in two, of a man wearing a cocked hat, blue jacket and brown breeches. Alas for posterity, the stranger departed without leaving name or address. All that is certain is that some garden not too far from Tewkesbury has one very unusual ornament in it.
In 1670 this was the “Mermaid”; until c1770 it was the “Star”; later it was the “Severn Trow” and probably the “Welsh Harp”, and finally the Admiral Benbow”. The length of time it survived as a pub reflects the importance of river-borne trade to the town. The Quay was a very busy place.
Landlords at the Admiral Benbow / Severn Trow include:
1779-1786 Samuel Mayall
1786-1787 Mary Mayall (widow)
1797-1820 John Martin
1820 John Rogers
1821 John Vokins
1822 Joseph Boughton
1830 Joseph Glover (listed as the Severn Trow)
1842,1846 Joseph Glover.
