In 1870 there is a reference to the Bunch of Grapes. The address of the Grapes is given as 11 Gloucester Place in 1878.
Cheltenham Original Brewery were the owners of the Grapes Tavern in 1891, and it continued in their ownership for the next twelve years and beyond. Licensed as a beer house the Grapes Tavern had an annual rateable value of £17.0s.0d., remaining unchanged from both assessments in 1891 and 1903.
The Gloucester House Inn at the northern end of Gloucester Place was in close proximity. The Britannia Inn in Fairview Road was also nearby.
Although numbered at No 11 Gloucester Place the location of the Grapes Tavern does not correspond with the present numbering. The original numbers used to run from Albion Street northwards sequentially – 1-17, so the Grapes Tavern would have been opposite the present day No.12, where there is a gap between older and newer buildings – probably mostly where No.25 Gloucester Place now stands. (information courtesy Alan Jones).
Landlords at the Grapes Tavern include: (additional information courtesy Alan Jones)
1870 Charles Spring (Bunch of Grapes)
1872 Charles Spring (Royal Directory) – listed as publican and the premises as ‘Ale & Porter Stores’
1876 and 1878 Matthew Hewlett (Royal Directory) – no pub name but listed as publican.
1878 George Bliss
1883 C.A. Spring
1883 C.A. Spring (junior) (Post Office Directory) – ‘Wood Turner, Grapes Inn’
1891 Jessie Cook
1900-1905 Mr J. Richmond (in Annuaires) – no pub name but in the 1902 Built-Leonard Director named as Grapes Inn.
1903 James Richmond
1906-1909 Mrs Richmond (in Annuaires)
1910-1916 Mr L. Barnes (in Annuaries and although the name of the pub isn’t mentioned in these, the Grapes Inn is in the 1911 Built Leonard Directory and also the 1913 to 1916 ‘Looker On’ editions.
Alan notes that by 1922 the Built-Leonard Directory no longer lists the Grapes Inn / Tavern, “so I am assuming it had closed between 1916 and 1922. That gives The Grapes a pretty solid record of at least a 46 year lifespan.”