Butlers Venue Bar was previously part of the Crown & Thistle public house. The Crown & Thistle was at 103 Eastgate Street, next door to Butlers, and the building is now Zest Bar. When Justin Hudson took over the venue bar in November 1997 he said that it was “a very old fashioned traditional tavern with varnished walls.”
The Crown and Thistle had been owned by Greenalls Inns but, as they found it uneconomic, it was sold to Inn Partnerships. Before embarking on running Butlers Justin , aged 23, asked customers and local people what they thought was needed in Gloucester and they said ‘a disco pub with sensible prices’.
Butlers had a £124.000 revamp and, in 2001 Justin won the bronze award in the Morning Advertiser ‘National Disco Pub of the Year’ category. In 2006 Butlers Bar had another £500,000 makeover, which included an outside smoking area.
Owner / manager:
1999 Tim Andrews (pub manager, Crown and Thistle)
2006 Justin Hudson
