Imperial Inn, 59 Northgate Street, Gloucester

The Imperial Inn is a small fronted pub in Northgate Street. The front facade of the Imperial is an architectural Victorian gem with glazed green tiles and etched bar windows. Mitchell & Butlers of Cape Hill, Birmingham built the facade of the Imperial with every attention to detail. There are two windows and a doorway on street level with decorative pillars in between each. Across the top of the two etched brewery windows is the name of the pub, Imperial Inn, in decorative tiles. On top of the door is an elaborate crest. The upper floor of the Imperial Inn is brick built but the transition between the tiled facade and brick is sensitively broken by decorative ironwork. The pub is now owned by Punch Taverns (2005) who have resisted the temptation to fix modern signs over the Grade II listed frontage. The interior has been refurbished over the years and the original three rooms were knocked into one room in 1985.

Gloucester Journal: April 23^rd, 1881 – Alarm of Fire: On Wednesday night an alarm was raised of a fire having broken out at the Imperial Inn, Northgate Street, in this city. The trucks of the Norwich Union and the Liverpool, London and Globe offices were quickly on the spot, but happily their services were not required, the trifling fire which had broken out having been extinguished.

Citizen – October 8^th 1973: ‘Mr Harry Bell, licensee of the Imperial Inn, Northgate Street, Gloucester, has passed the Brewers’ Society Licensed Trade Diploma Examination. Mr Bell was a bakery and catering instructor at Broadmoor for nearly 28 years before he came to Gloucester to take over the Imperial. He tells us the course did him some good and covered every subject on different parts of the trade. The examination tests licensees and their staff on such things as hygiene, cellar management, staff control and licensing law.’