There is a reference to the Bicester Arms, Mercers Entry in the Gloucester Journal, 15th August 1874. Mercers Entry linked Westgate Street with Cross Keys Lane The passageway still exists which can be found by the Coventry Building Society in Westgate Street and enters Cross Keys Lane by the Masonic Hall.
There was another pub called the Fox in Mercers Entry. According to the research of pub historian Mr A. Done the Fox Inn is documented as trading in 1802 and 1847, predating the references to the Bicester Arms.
So, was the Fox an early incarnation of the Bicester Arms? The Fleece Hotel was dominant in that area of Gloucester and would have overlooked the Bicester Arms and/or Fox Inn.
