In 1891 the Albion Inn was tied to the local Blakeney Brewery. The Blakeney Brewery closed c.1895, and the buildings were taken over by Arnold Perrett & Co. Ltd., who used it as a storage depot for onward distribution of their Wickwar brewed beers into the Forest of Dean and beyond. The annual rateable value in 1891 and 1903 was set at £12.0s.0d. and the Albion Inn was a licensed ale house with a closing time of 10 pm.
The Citizen newspaper reported on the 14th August 1895 that ‘Frederick Stanley, aged 10, the son of Mr Ernest Stanley of the Albion Inn, Viney Hill, was rather severely burned whilst lighting the fire on Thursday morning with the aid of paraffin’.
Licensees did not seem to remain long at the Albion Inn. In fact, it seems that the longest recorded tenure was 18 years, which was achieved by Oswald and Lillian Jones – the last licensees at the Albion. The inn ceased to trade in 1957, and the widowed Lillian Jones retired.
The Albion Inn is now a private house, mostly obscured from view by a large hedge surrounding the property. It is to be found on the corner of Pine Tree Way and on the road to Yorkley.
Landlords at the Albion Inn include:
1869 George Wilce
1876 George Edwards
1879 John Prior
1885 Harry Wooles
1889,1891,1895 Ernest Stanley
1897 Edward Phillips
1900 George Phillips
1902 Edward Phillips
1903 George Phillips
1904,1906 Edwin Thomas
1907 Mary E. Thomas
1909 John J. James
1910 Stephen Beard
1912 Edwin Halford
1914,1919 Sydney J. and Annie James
1923 Frederick and Emily Fowler
1927 William Hy. Fowler
1927 Benjamin and Christine Fowler
1928 Frederick J. Thorne
1929 Frederick Box
1934 Maurice Croome
1937 William E. and Lillian Jones
1956 Lillian Jones
