The Horse and Groom was purchased by the Cirencester Brewery with ‘land in Cricklade Road adjoining’ on 25th March 1919.
The 18th century pub once stood on the busy A417 Cirencester to Swindon road but the Cirencester bypass constructed in 1997 left it isolated. Trade plummeted and the owner claimed that business had decreased by 80%. A 12 bedroom motel was built on the site of a barn at the back of the pub in an attempt to gain custom. However, permission was granted to convert the pub and adjoining motel into residential use in the summer of 2004.
Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard, Saturday 20th June 1854: The members of the Foss Benefit Society met on Tuesday last, at the Horse and Groom Inn, South Cerney, to celebrate their 11th anniversary, and proceeded to church accompanied with a band of music. The members afterwards returned to the inn, and partook of an excellent dinner, provided by Mr. Pollard. Several new members were elected during the day and the society is in a very prosperous condition.
Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard, 30 December 1854: On Thursday, the 21st December as Mr. John Pollard, of the Horse and Groom Inn, South Cerney, was beating the cover at the Foss for C. H. Smith, Esq., when a hare started on the side of a hill, when the latter fired, not perceiving that Mr. Pollard was in a line with it, and several of the shots entered Mr. Pollard’s leg and thigh, the principal part of the charge fortunately passing between his legs. Medical assistance was shortly procured, and we are happy to add that he is going on favourably.
Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard, Saturday 16th June 1855 – DEATH: ‘June 8th, at the Horse and Groom, South Cerney, aged six years, Fanny, daughter of Mr John Pollard’
Gloucester Citizen, Tuesday 23rd June 1891 – Petty Sessions: Monday.—George Weeks, landlord of the Horse and Groom Inn. Cricklade-road, in the parish of South Cerney, was fined £1, to include costs, for permitting drunkenness on his premises on June 10th.
Gloucestershire Echo. Thursday, 15th July 1943 – Assault on licensee: At Cirencester Court Wednesday, three Irishmen working on Government site pleaded not guilty to assaulting Stanley George Thatcher, licensee of the Horse and Groom Inn, Cricklade-road, South Cerney, on June 26th. The accused were James Keohane, Robert Kerlin, and Harold Cunliffe. The case against Cunliffe was dismissed, but Keohane and Kerlin were fined £1 each. Thatcher said that after he had announced that there was no more beer, the three men became disorderly, and he had to eject Cunliffe, whereupon the other two attacked him. In announcing the decision of the Bench the chairman (Capt. F. Fawcett) said that Keohane and Kerlin would be fined £1 each. There was no evidence of an assault by Cunliffe, and the case against him would be dismissed, but he was primarily responsible for the incident.
Gloucestershire Echo, Friday 1st May 1942 – Possession of an Inn: Mr. O. A. Logie was successful in his application, on behalf of the Cirencester Brewery Company, for possession of the Horse and Groom Inn, Cricklade-road, South Cerney, of which Frank Giles is the tenant. The order of possession to take no longer than May 1942.
Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard, (actual date not recorded 1996?) – Pub fights to survive new road scheme: A Country pub near South Cerney has begun a battle for survival. The Horse and Groom, an 18th century listed building, stands alongside the busy A419 trunk road. But during the next few months, a new four-lane highway – part of the strategic cross-country route between Gloucester and Swindon – will slice through fields alongside the pub, leaving it in a dead end. Now councillors have pledged to join the battle of landlord Ernie Luker.
Last week Mr Luker sought listed building consent to convert a barn alongside the pub to 12 motel rooms, create an additional 11-space car park, and extent the pub to create a dining room, kitchen and balcony, and a below-ground cellar, toilets and store. Members of Cotswold District Council’s south area planning committee deferred consideration of the proposals, having been advised initially to refuse the application because of the bulk of the proposed extension.
Planner John Longmuir said Mr Luker was seeking new facilities for functions, and more accommodation. “The improvements are apparently needed for the pub to survive after the opening of the new bypass,” he explained. Cllr Sue Herdman said Mr Luker was going to have a very difficult time once the new bypass came. “Although it is a listed building we have to be as constructive as possible,” she said. Cllr Rex Williams said: “We must encourage this, not put the skids under it.”
Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard, 27th February 1997 – Legal bid over pub: A landlord forced to close his pub while work on Cirencester’s bypass went on now also faces prosecution for demolishing a listed building. Cotswold District councillors last week decided to prosecute Ernie Luker for knocking down a barn behind the Horse and Groom, South Cerney.
The barn was being converted to motel rooms. But Mr Luker told planners, when its roof was removed, the walls cracked and became unstable. “The walls were lowered until the building became safe,” he explained by letter. “Further examination highlighted the absence of footings and I was advised the most sensible course of action was to demolish the remainder and start again.” Mr Luker said work on the new dual carriageway, just feet from the pub, had hit trade so much he had to close last month.
Already, more than a year of consultation over the motel project with Cotswold District Council officers had resulted in him missing out on grants of more than £25,000, he said. Unless the project proceeded quickly four jobs might be lost.
Councillor Leslie Jones said: “We went to great lengths to help the applicant in view of his problems. Now a listed building has been removed, and that is an offence. Cllr. Shaun Parsons said action would have to be taken. “If we start to wobble about whether or not to prosecute, we will find all sorts of buildings coming down.”
Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard – Pub motel on track (1997 – date not recorded): Ernie Luker is hoping his pub can be saved after he received approval for plans to build a motel next to it. The landlord of the Horse and Groom, in South Cerney, closed his pub earlier this year saying work on the Cirencester bypass had cut his trade by 80 per cent. Cotswold District councillors gave him permission last year to convert a listed barn at the back of the pub into a motel. Mr Luker said damage to the barn forced him to pull it down and when he started to rebuild it the council told him to stop.
Now, members of the council’s south area planning sub-committee have given him permission to build a 12-bedroom motel in a replica barn. They warned he could still face prosecution for knocking the old barn down. Mr Luker said: “I’m just glad we can get on with it again. The motel is essential to the pub’s survival.” The pub is due to reopen at the end of July.
Courtesy Michael Wilkes
Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard, 8th July 2004 – Pub conversion is allowed despite noise reservations: Planning committe members backed a proposal to convert a South Cerney pub and motel into homes, despite concerns about noise levels. At a meeting on Wednesday they approved Ernie Lucker’s (sic) application to convert the Horse and Groom into five dwellings, each with gardens, garaging and boundary landscaping. The motel will become three dwellings, two of two bedrooms and one of three bedrooms, while the pub will become one four-bedroom dwelling and one of five bedrooms.
A report to the meeting revealed the conversion was needed because the Horse and Groom had suffered business problems. Council planning officer, Mike Napper, recommended refusal on the grounds that traffic on the A419 Cirencester bypass would generate unacceptable noise.
Telling the meeting modern builders had several ways of blanking out noise, Councillor Rod Hooper said: “We could ask them to come up with enough sound conditions on this building that we could allow it after negotiaion.” Council environmental health officer, Ray Brassington, warned that even if the buildings could be sound-proofed, people using the garden would still suffer the noise. But Councillor Sue Herdman recommended approval, saying the road would become quieter when its noisy concrete surface was replaced with Tarmac.
Map Reference: SU 068982
Licensing Details:
Owner in 1891: E. William Cripps, Cirencester Brewery
Rateable Value in 1891: £29.5s.0d.
Type of licence in 1891: Alehouse
Owner in 1903: F.W.B. Cripps, Esq., Cirencester Brewery
Rateable Value in 1903: £14.0s.0d.
Type of licence in 1903: Alehouse
Closing time in 1903: 10pm
Owner in 1919: Cirencester Brewery
Landlords at the Horse & Groom include:
1856,1874 John Pollard
1885 Henry Weeks
1890 (Oct) ‘Mr O. Weeks was granted a holdover of the Horse and Groom Inn, South Cerney, from Mrs Eliza Weeks.’
1891 George Weeks
1889 George Beard
1902,1927 Alfred George Beard
(1925 Albert George Beard)
1942 Frank Giles (see above)
1943 Stanley George Thatcher
1971 Edward Townley-Berry
1997,2002 Ernie Lucker