The Cross Keys at Kempley had closed by the end of the 19th century. Details of the pub are scarce, but the Cross Keys is mentioned in 1871 and twenty years later the licensed premises is described as a beer house with an annual rateable value of £12.0s.0d.
Landowner Earl Beauchamp of the Dymock estate was the owner with William Hopkins in occupancy as the landlord. The Cross Keys was free from brewery tie in 1891.
The Victoria County History give detail that the Cross Keys was located at Little Adams in the village of Kempley, although no modern address corresponds to that name.
The Victoria County History notes that ‘in 1899 the Cross Keys, which had recently closed, became the premises of a new club for the men of the parish and in 1903, on the building of St Edward’s church, the nearby temporary church it replaced became the church hall. The clubhouse closed soon after the First World War and the church hall, which came to serve as a village hall for Kempley and the neighbourhood, was rebuilt in 1994’.
Gloucester Journal: 21st April 1883. The licence of the Cross Keys, Kempley, was transferred from Mr William Wintle to Mr William Hopkins.