The Fleece Hotel was located in the centre of Cinderford, roughly where the Miners statue now stands. The Kellys directory of 1939 gives the address as 18 High Street.

In 1891 the Fleece Hotel was owned by the Tewkesbury Brewery Company and, according to the licensing book of that year, it was their only pub in the Forest of Dean. Ownership of the Fleece Hotel had passed to Arnold Perrett & Co. of Wickwar, 12 years later in 1903. The annual rateable value of the alehouse was £54.0s.0d. and closing time, in common with all Cinderford town pubs, was 11 pm. Cheltenham Original Brewery and West Country Breweries were the owners in later years.

In August 1895 a Mr Norman, from Gloucester, surgeon and dentist, was advertising that ‘he will be at the Fleece Hotel, Cinderford,  from 11am-6pm every Thursday’… and that he used Nitrous Oxide gas for painless extraction. I wonder if those arriving early at the Fleece Hotel with a nervous disposition might have been tempted to quaff a few pints of the strongest of the Tewkesbury ales before even being administered with the dose of Nitrous Oxide gas to see Mr Norman.

In 1905 the Fleece Hotel was the headquarters of the Cinderford Football Club. The fixture list for 1906 included games with Neath, Aberdare, Coventry and Exeter.

When F.L. White was landlord in 1939 he posted an advertisement for the pub, which read: ‘A bright spot for any holiday maker! The Fleece Hotel, Cinderford. Here you will find good company, happy surroundings and a song. Together with a first-class drink. Cheltenham Ales and Stouts. Fully licensed. Bed & Breakfast.’ 

The Fleece Hotel was demolished c1963. Gordon Teague, the last landlord, moved to the nearby Swan Hotel.

Landlords at the Fleece Hotel include:

1874-1878 James White (also a butcher)

1879 Robert Ansley

1881-1889 James Barter

1885 James Barter

1891-1892 Milson Huzzey

1891 Mary Evans

1896-1897 Mrs Ellen Huzzey  (also Hussey)

1900 (9th Oct: ‘temporary transfer Miss Keyse to J.H. Philips of the Volunteer Hotel, Cardiff’)

1901,1902 John William Philips

1903,1906 Thomas George Jenkins

1906 Thomas Baker

1907 Philip Brown

1908 (July) Thomas Shepherd

1910 Charles James Thomas

1911-1915 Albert Jones (died Nov. 1915)

1918 Mrs Maud Jones (Wife of Albert)

1927,1935 Charles Jenkins

1937 A.S.J. Barrington

1939 F.L. White

1961-1963 Gordon Teague (moved to the Swan Hotel)

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