Cheltenham Original Brewery were the owners of the Engineers Arms in 1891 and 1903. The annual rateable value of the licensed ale house was £18.10s.0d. in 1891 increasing to £21.5s.0d. twelve years later in 1903.
The landlord in 1891, Benjamin Ratcliffe, is also listed at the Colletts Brewery Inn, St. Pauls. It is possible that the brewery might have been on the premises prior to 1891.
The pub was of unusual design. It appeared that the building was minuscule as entry was made through a small and basic brick extension which fronted St. Pauls Road. At street level the rest of the building was concealed by a wall and high hedge. It was something of a surprise, therefore, to enter, tardis-like, into the actual pub. The Engineers Arms was almost opposite the Duke of Brunswick Inn. The Engineers Arms traded briefly as the New Engineers and then as the New Ale House.
It closed down permanently in 2002 and was demolished in the Spring of 2004. Large cellars were revealed during demolition.
The replacement block of flats constructed on the site of the old Engineers Arms has been called a ‘blot on the landscape’, not in keeping with the older housing in the area. Moreover, the building work was painfully slow, the construction grinding to a complete halt for months without any visible work being undertaken. Paint was splattered over the new brickwork and the building was left uncompleted. An angry local resident, Brian Burrows, of St Pauls Road told the ‘Gloucestershire Echo’ in July 2008: “For the past eight (sic) years scaffolding has gone up, been taken down and gone back up again. I’ve heard it’s supposed to be turned into one-bedroom flats but nobody seems to know anything. It changes all the time. We’ve been to the Council but it doesn’t know who owns it because it keeps getting sold.” A councillor said: There’s a real concern for members across the council, particularly planning members, when they see sites that are being left around for years or with derelict properties on them with full planning permission. It’s frustrating when they are trying to plan the future for Cheltenham. They expect developers to develop a site when they have been given permission to do so.”
The Citizen, Thursday January 8th 1987: Stabbing Silence: A conspiracy of silence has hampered police investigation into a vicious knife attack in Cheltenham. A 31 year old male lost nearly three pints of blood after he was repeatedly stabbed late on Tuesday night in the Engineers Arms pub in the St. Pauls area of the town. A man is helping police with their enquiries but there were at least six witnesses to the attack and detectives have been frustrated by their refusal to talk.
The man, who suffered a six-inch cut in his throat and four-inch cheek wounds, was today ‘comfortable’ in Cheltenham hospital.
Landlords at the Engineers Arms include:
1891 Benjamin Ratcliffe
1903,1906 Annie Matilda Walter
1919 Sidney William Tibbles
1926,1927 Mrs Emily Tibbles
1939 Joseph L. Johnston
