The Crown Inn was once tied to Arnold Perrett & Co. Ltd. Wickwar Brewery. The South Gloucestershire brewery had a number of pubs in the Forest of Dean. Wickwar ‘Celebrated Gold Medal Ales and Stouts’ were probably introduced into the Forest of Dean upon the opening of the Severn Railway Bridge from Berkeley to Lydney in 1879. The annual rateable value of the Crown Inn in 1891 and 1903 was £16.0s.0d. and it was classified as a beer house. Ownership of most of Arnold Perrett’s tied houses passed to the Cheltenham Original Brewery in 1924.

Cheltenham Original Brewery eventually passed into Whitbread ownership and in the 1980 of ‘Real Ale in Gloucestershire’ (CAMRA) the Crown was selling Whitbread PA on handpump and was described simply as a ‘small friendly pub’. In 1993 RAIG described the Crown as ‘recently refurbished with a wide range of food. Karaoke every Tuesday and live music every Sunday evening.’ Marston’s Pedigree and Wadworth 6X were available.

Punch Taverns owned the Crown Inn in 2005.

The Crown in the summer of 2006. On the right is my father-in-law, Eddie Caple, who I took for an afternoon leisurely drive in the Forest of Dean from his home in Brockworth near Gloucester. A quick half was enjoyed in Coalway. Eddie passed away in 2014.

When new landlord Ian Davidson took over the running of the pub in January 2012 he told the ‘Forester’ newspaper, ‘The Crown Inn has got to be the prettiest pub in the Forest’. He had given the pub a full makeover and had expressed his wish that it could become the hub of the village. He said, ‘First and foremost it’s a village pub for locals and tourists. People think of how nice country pubs are in places like Devon and I say why can’t we have one like that here.’


Landlords at the Crown Inn include:

1841,1861 Edward and Sophie Wilcox

1861,1881 William and Ann Aston

1891,1901 Henry John and Martha Williams

1901 Thomas T. and Mary A. Williams

1903 Thomas S. Williams & Mary Williams

1939 George and Florence Williams

1963,1981 Stan Harris

1987,1989 (Sept) Dave Eddy and Sarah Fennell

1989 (Sept), 1992 Daryl Lewis

1992,1993 Andrea Lovibond and Ewan ‘Buck’ Buchan

1993 (Feb), 1996 (Sept) Terry and Andrea O’Sullivan

. Phil & Adele

. Steve & Donna

2000, 2004 Alan Jones

2004,2005 Derek and Jenny Bound

2006,2008 Roger and Angela Powell

2008,2010 Steve & Adrian Rossi

2012 (Jan) Ian Davidson

2013 (Dec), 2014 (Dec) Alan Thorn

2014 (Dec), 2015 (June) Rosie P. & Jack

2015 (June), 2015 (Oct) Robyn & Tammy P.

2015 (Oct), 2017 (Nov) Joe Carr

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