Kings Arms, 140 Gloucester Road, Cheltenham - Glo'shire Pubs & Breweries

The 1903 petty sessional divisional records clearly state that the Kings Arms was owned by R.W. Miller & Co of Bristol, yet photographs of that time show that the pub was tied to the Stroud Brewery Company.

Eliza Smith is recorded in the licensing returns of 1891 as the owner of the Kings Arms in Gloucester Road which she operated free from brewery tie. The premise licence was for an ale house and the annual rateable value was set at £34.0s.0d. in both 1891 and 1903. At the beginning of the Edwardian era the Kings Arms had been acquired by R.W. Miller of the Stokes Croft Brewery in Bristol.

Interesting map segment showing three pubs on the Gloucester Road of 1855. Top right, The Calcutta Inn at the middle The Kings Arms, bottom left the Royal Foresters Inn. The sharp eyed amongst you will notice that the original King Arms pub sat much further back from road. The other pub The Royal Foresters Inn was at the entrance to a large brickworks that was on the Gloucester Road of 1855 that later became the site of the GWR engine sheds and sidings. Of further interest I believe the Royal Foresters started life as The Kings Head Inn but changed it’s name to avoid confusion with it’s neighbour The Kings Arms. (Martin Edwards)

The sign-writers work is superb. Unfortunately, when they painted the words ‘The Stroud Brewery Co. Limited’ between the ground and first floor windows they seem to have run out of space and the word ‘Limited’ is truncated to ‘Lim’ with a very small ‘td’ just inches away from the bay window.

The Gloucestershire Echo related a sad tale on April 10^th 1931 reporting that the landlord, Mr Huntley, had been found dead in his bedroom by his wife. The verdict was ‘death from coal-gas, poisoning self-inhaled, while of unsound mind.’