The Gloucester House Inn stood on the western corner of Gloucester Place adjoining Fairview Road. It stood directly opposite the Britannia Inn. There was also a Grapes Tavern at 11 Gloucester Place.
Eliza Hall owned the Gloucester House Inn in 1891 when it was licensed as a beer house with an annual rateable value of £15.5s.0d. A Charles Hall is recorded as the occupying landlord in 1870 and 1883 directories. It seems likely that Charles and Eliza were married, perhaps in 1891 Eliza had become a widower and sole owner. The Gloucester House at that time was occupied by John Arkell. It is likely that Eliza was approached by the Wickwar Brewery as by 1903 the ownership had been transferred to Arnold, Perrett & Co. Ltd. The annual rateable value had increased by one pound and fifteen shillings to £17.0s.0d.
The Gloucester House Inn became tied to the Cheltenham Brewery after the merger of Arnold, Perrett & Co. Ltd. in 1924. It later passed into the estate of Cheltenham & Hereford Breweries, and through to West Country Breweries.
The row of terraced buildings in Fairview Road adjoining the Gloucester House leading down to the junction of Winchcombe Street were all demolished in the mid 1970’s to facilitate the widening of Fairview Road to become part of the inner ring road. The Gloucester House was left standing at the end of Gloucester Place.
The date of closure of the Gloucester House is not clear, but it was probably in the early 1970’s. The building then came a Business Centre and then was used by the Bayliss, Haines & Strange car dealership in nearby Albion Street.
The car dealership vacated the premises in 2008 and the building was then was boarded up and left to deteriorate for many years. Structural damage necessitated the shoring up of the old pub by scaffolding, ultimately even that became overrun with weeds and shrubs. In February 2013 the neighbours of the adjoining property in Gloucester Place complained of damp problems in their house, presumably because of water ingress in the old Gloucester House. The owner said: “The building is only being held up by the scaffolding and in all this wet weather, the damp is creeping in. It’s getting worse and worse. There is no roof and no floors on the inside.”
The western side of Gloucester Place has been subsequently redeveloped into prestigious residential properties – Gloucester Mews. A small row of terraced houses remain at the northern end, and where the Gloucester House pub once stood is a residential complex that extends as far as Fisher Lane towards Winchcombe Street.
Landlords at the Gloucester House Inn include:
1870,1883 Charles Hall
1891 John Arkell
1903 Harry Hill
1926 Charles Frederick Hopkins
1939 Frederick Charles Hopkins
- Molly Dyer
1958 Mr and Mrs Emerson
