Beacon & Railway Hotel / Beacon Inn, Haresfield GL10 3DX

https://www.thebeaconinn.co.uk

The Beacon And Railway Hotel was built by the Midland Railway. Haresfield Station was opened in May 1854 to serve passengers on the Midland Railway line. The station was closed to passengers on 4^th January 1965, but the trains still thunder past the pub on the Gloucester-Bristol line. The hotel has discarded its association with the railway and is now known simply as the Beacon Inn.

The Citizen, Wednesday 6th August 2008 – Residents worried about pub closure (by Ben Falconer): Another Stroud pub has closed, leaving residents without their local. The Beacon Inn in Haresfield has been shut for two weeks and owners Enterprise Inns has put it on the market.

It is adamant that it will continue to run as a pub but villagers fear it may be closed for good. “We are all very disappointed to see this happening,” said chairman of Haresfield Parish Council, David Purchase. “We want to know whether whoever owns it wants to keep it as a pub or has other ideas. It does not look very good.”

He said licensees Terry and Sheena Knight did an excellent job of re-invigorating the pub, after it was bought by a group of local people five years ago. “It’s a nice village pub,” said one local. “It’s a shame as they were there five years and really brought back the village pub and a lot of locals went there.”

Enterprise Inn’s regional manager Andy Tanner said: “It was a recent acquisition and consequently we are not in the habit of buying pubs to close them down.” He added that a colleague, who was away at the moment, was dealing with the issue of potential licensees. “I’m sure we will actively recruit for it. The intention is to carry on running it as a pub.”

Enterprise Inns has listed the pub on a business for sale website. An asking price of £35,000 (sic) covers the lease ingoings of the business including the lease. It describes the Beacon as having three main trading areas, a public bar, a long bar and a large restaurant area. There are five bedrooms, a large car park, a garden and additional patio seating areas to the front and sides of the main building.

The Citizen, 31st March 2010 – Come dine with us says Beacon’s new landlord: A pub and restaurant in Haresfield is giving its new landlord food for thought. Haydn Pearl, who has just taken over the reins at the Beacon Inn, is looking to offer a better dining experience for visitors when the pub re-opens tomorrow. The 35-year-old, from Churchdown, said: “The Beacon is a pub, a restaurant and a hotel. We have a functioning skittle alley at the back and the pub is known for its food which I am hoping to continue. We are looking to do good food with an a la carte menu, once we get more staff but we are still looking for people. The pub has always been known for its food and that is our market here. The other food outlets around are carvaries or just snacks. But we want people to come from all around the county to sample our good food.”

Haydn, who will be helped by his mum Sue in the venture, said he just wants people to come and see what the pub has to offer themselves. He said: “People have told me it is one of those Gloucestershire pubs that people like to go to. It has been closed for the last few months for refurbishment but it had previously a string of owners. I want people to know that it is open and the pub is under new ownership.”