Numbered 295 High Street, and latterly 340, the Kings Head was a fine regency building, which was demolished in the early 1980’s.
Stroud Brewery were the owners of the Kings Head in the Lower High Street in 1891 and 1903. The Kings Head was a licensed ale house with an annual rateable value of £55.0s.0d. in 1891, increasing by just five shillings to £55.5s.0d. in 1903.
For a time, the Kings Head Hotel was the meeting place of the Cotswold Magical Society. Mr Mel Collins, the Prison Officer at Gloucester Prison, was president of the Cotswold Magical Society in 1971.
Prior to its demise, I can just recall the superb ornate carved wooden bar surrounds in the pub that must have been the original fixings. I wonder if they were salvaged?
The newsletter for the CAMRA Gloucestershire branch ‘the tippler’ reported in February 1978 (edition No 2) that the exterior of the Kings Head in the Lower High Street was being repainted. ‘What a pity that this included painting over a genuine example of an advertisement for the Stroud Brewery.’
the Kings Head was replaced by a very nondescript concrete building which has already seen a number of uses. It is currently the neighbourhood resource centre.
Landlords at the Kings Head Hotel include:
1844 William P. Halston (researched by Martin Edwards)
1856 W.P. Hurlston
1859,1870 Mary Ann Blanton
1883 G. Bevan
1885,1891 Harriet Hogg
1902,1903,1906 George Cook Hopkins
1919 Amelia Sharp (Mrs)
1927 Frederick Smith
1939 Thomas A.F. Jackson
