The directories of 1859, 1870 and 1891 refer to the Cleveland Arms. Listed at 18 Townsend Place, Tewkesbury Road in 1856 and 18 Tewkesbury Road in 1927. The Cleveland Arms was on the junction with Cleveland Street. It was demolished in the 1960’s as part of the Tewkesbury Road widening scheme.
George Stibbs of the Albion Steam Brewery owned the Cleveland Arms in 1891, but according to the licensing records it was listed as being free from brewery tie. The annual rateable value was £18.10s.0d. Twelve years later the Cleeveland Inn had been acquired by the local Cheltenham Original Brewery and the annual rateable value had risen to £21.5s.0d. The premise licence in 1903 was for an ale house, yet intriguingly it only had a six-day licence. Presumably this meant that it was closed on Sundays – the Sabbath.
The Tewkesbury Road pub crawl was legendary, and those who lived to tell the tale were probably too intoxicated at the end to remember the precise details. For the record from the Townsend Street junction the twelve pubs were: Golden Cross, Cross Keys, Cleveland Arms (then Cleveland Street), White Horse (then Queen Street), Queens Head, Old Anchor (then Sun Street), Barley Mow (then Hope Street), Elephant & Castle (then Waterloo Street), Brewers Arms, Worcester Arms (then Worcester Street), Railway Inn (then Elm Street), Vauxhall Arms (then Malvern Street) and just before the Midland Railway bridge, the Bridge Inn.
Landlords at the Cleveland Arms/Inn include:
1844 Robert Hyett (Cleveland Arms, 17 & 18 Townsend Place)
1856,1859 Henry Markey
1870,1891 George Stibbs
1902 Jane Hands (manageress)
1903 Thomas Morgan Thomas
1906 Henry James
1919 Sam Harper
1926,1927 Albert Cummings