The following is reproduced with permission from Darrel Kirby’s ‘The Story of Gloucester Pubs’ (The History Press 2010):
The King’s Arms was at no 3 Hare Lane, referred to in some places as Tewkesbury Street. It was just off Northgate Street on the west side of the road. The first reference that I have found for the pub is the city deeds from 1786, which refer to a ‘messuage, court, backside, brewhouse and garden with the appurtenances in Hair (sic) Lane, in the parish of St John the Baptist, Gloucester and known as the Kings Arms.’ (Darrel Kirby).
Gloucester Journal: Saturday, 30th 1977 – Noted City skittle alley to close: By I.C. Pritchard. So after so many years the Kings Arms Hotel skittles alley in Hare Lane, is to close its doors on the sport. We heard that ‘mine-host’ Roy James, after losing his wife, known to so many skittlers as ‘Babs’, is to retire, and we shall all miss his jovial laugh which we got so used to. Roy was, of course, a popular figure in the sporting world, being so well known for his prowess on the Rugby pitch at Kingsholm. We wish him well in his retirement.
Whitbread closed the Kings Arms upon the retirement of Roy James, and took the opportunity to enlarge the adjoining Tabard Inn
The old skittle alley of the Kings Arms was replaced with pool tables and gaming machines in the Tabard.
This page will be updated.
Landlords:
1830 John Miles (Kings Arms, Tewkesbury Street)
1856 G. Hill
1859 Matthew Gadfield
1870 Ann Evans
1879,1885 George Symonds (George was 24 years of age in 1901)
1893 W.R. Hasback
1902,1906 William Rasbach
1919 Ernest James Baldwin
1927 William Horner
1936,1939 Norman E. Brown
1977,1978 Roy and ‘Babs’ James
