The 17th century Fleece Inn was once tied to Witchell’s Tetbury Brewery. Thomas Witchell did not own many pubs and the Fleece Inn was a rare outlet. Witchell’s were subsequently acquired by Warns, a rival Tetbury brewery.
The Stroud Brewery later owned the pub. An old photograph shows the gabled end of the pub with the painted lettering: ‘The Fleece Inn. Warn & Sons. Celebrated Ales, Wines & Spirits.’
When the landlady Miss Mary Jotcham retired from the Fleece Inn in 1953 it brought to an end over a hundred years association with the Jotcham family. The Stroud Brewery Courier reported in December 1947 of ‘a grand old lady, who kept one of the Company’s houses for 53 years was the late Mrs Jotcham of the Fleece at Hillesley. Mrs Jotcham died in 1940, but the public house was kept in the family with Mrs Jotcham’s daughter taking on the licence.
The Fleece closed in December 2006 and its future looked uncertain. Thankfully it reopened on April 6th 2007 but the owning Pub Co went into administration in 2011. The following is extracted from their website: (as of May 2022)
‘The vibe of the village was noticeably altered [when the Fleece closed]; some felt quite bereft at the closure, so the local community formed HCPL (Hillesley Community Pub Ltd.) and bought the Freefold. In July 2012 The Fleece reopened as a Community Pub and although the concept worked well initially, the pub started to falter and was on a downward spiral. HCPL decided that the format wasn’t working and the best course of action would be to lease the business. Rod Undy has built the pub up to a very high standard and Mykel and Rebecca Cameron took over as Landlords on 1st September 2021.’
The Fleece Inn was Dursley & District CAMRA Pub of the Year in 2018.
This page will be updated with additional information.
https://www.thefleecehillesley.com
Map Reference: ST 770897
Owner in 1891: Thomas Witchell, Tetbury
Rateable Value in 1891: £10.0s.0d.
Type of licence in 1891: Alehouse
Owner in 1903: Thomas Witchell, Tetbury
Rateable Value in 1903: £10.0s.0d.
Type of licence in 1903: Alehouse
Closing time in 1903: 10pm
Owner in 1953: Stroud Brewery Company
Owner in 2007: Scottish and Newcastle
Landlords at the Fleece include:
1856 L. Roach
1885 William Gunning
1881 Ephraim Tavender
1891 Frederick Jotcham
1902,1953 Miss Mary Ann Jotcham (Mrs Mary Ann Jotcham in 1939)
1997 Celia Rollo
1998,2000 Richard and Clare Poole
2003 Kim and Cliff Williams
2007 Andrew Starling
