The Horse and Groom was a tiny pub immediately to the south of the railway bridge in London Road. In fact the pub was literally in the shadow of the embankment leading to the bridge. It must have been demolished in the late 1970’s. I can remember drinking there in 1978 when it was serving Ind Coope light mild brewed at the Romford brewery. The Horse and Groom had a long association with Ind Coope.
It was Ind Coope who had acquired the Hatton’s Northgate Brewery in George Street, Gloucester – a stone’s throw away from the Horse and Groom. Arthur Hatton is listed as landlord at the pub in 1885. This suggests that the Horse and Groom was once tied to the Hatton’s Northgate Brewery.
Landlords at the Horse & Groom include:
1879 E. Noble
1885 Arthur V. Hatton
1893 M.J. Phelps
1902,1906 Mrs Eliza Messenger
1919 Herbert James Phelps
1927 William James Byard
1936 E.W. Jones
1939 Alfred Aldhouse Wyburn
1944 George James Corlett
1957 Thomas H. Critchley
1976 Dorothy Bye