The Chequers Inn was located at 18 Church Street, opposite the Royal Hop Pole Hotel. The details are a little sketchy but it seems that the Chequers had a courtyard where performing travelling theatres performed in the middle years of the 19th century. Access to the Chequers Inn may have been from Swilgate Road to the rear.

The inn is not mentioned in the 1891 or 1903 licensing records, presumably closing c.1869. To confuse matters there may have been another Chequers Inn operating at 131 High Street next to the Wheatsheaf Inn c.1800.

From ‘Tewkesbury Pubs’ by B.R. Lindell (1972, second edition 1996)

The sign may mean the availability of a money-lender or the arms of De Warrene, Earl of Surrey. Number 18 Church Street was in business as early as 1818 and as late as 1869. James Blount Lewis, who was born next door and where he lived for the whole of his life, remarked in 1865 when aged about 60 that he had known the ‘Chequers’ all his life. The existing ornate canopy was put up by butcher Morse whose wife Rose had the shop in 1879. A later owner – Bloxham – had his name worked into the iron-work. The house closed sometime between 1869 and 1879. during its life it housed in the large yard at the back an annual travelling theatre for the season.

Landlords of the Chequers in Church Street include:

1808.1840 William Gardner

1830 George Gardiner (also listed as a stone and marble mason)

1840-1842 Charles Creese

1842-1853(?) Henry White

1856 H. Groves

1858,1859 Charles Burroughs

1864,1865 William Jones

1865,1869 William Dossett

Share this Page: