E.G. Francis was the owner of the Cliff Cider House in 1891. As its name suggest it had a licence to sell cider on the premises only, although it is documented as being free of brewery tie. Cliff Cider House must have been quite a basic establishment but the entry in the 1891 licensing records give no actual details of rateable values. The occupying landlord / keeper in 1891 was Edwin Frowen. The last reference to the Cliff Cider House is in 1897 when George Slater did not apply for a renewal of the licence.
It is possible that the Cliff Cider House was the last incarnation of an inn called the Royal Oak, a 17th Century building that in 1989 served as Staunton Post Office. Heather Hurley in her book ‘Pubs of the Royal Forest of Dean’ (Logaston Press 2004) writes, ‘The post office of 1989 was once the Royal Oak, a cider house with memories still stretching to ‘cider drinkers sitting around an old oak tree’ (quote attributed to J.A. Cockburn). It is understood that this inn was known by the sign of the Ostrich in 1799, but apparently its name was changed to the Royal Oak around 1832. James Carver was a busy man in 1845 as he was publican, pigman, cider maker and blacksmith. He left the running of the Royal Oak in 1863 because he had taken over the tenancy of the White Horse.’
