Ludlow Green is a tiny hamlet immediately to the south of Ruscombe, near Randwick. It is about two miles to the north-west of Stroud. The Ludlow Green Inn closed on Saturday 8th January 1972. Panaromic views over the fields to Whiteshill and beyond to Stroud could be enjoyed from the pub.
John Powell emailed in September 2006 and told me that his maternal grandmother, Myra Steele, was the daughter of Jasper Steele who built his own pub and brewed his own beer at what was later called the Ludlow Green Inn. He believed that Jasper’s son, Reubin Steele, was running the pub from about 1881. The family sold the pub to Godsell’s Brewery.
Gloucester Citizen, Monday 23rd September 1929 – Sudden Lurch, Ruscombe Man’s Death at Cards. The Inquest: A verdict of death by natural causes, probably acute heart failure, was recorded by the Divisional Coroner (Mr J.R. Moreton-Ball), this morning, when sitting without a jury, he held an inquiry into the circumstances of the death of Albert Smith (68, formerly a cloth worker, of Field View, Ruscombe), who died suddenly at the Ludlow Green Inn, Ruscombe, on Saturday evening.
Frank Cratchley, licensee of the Ludlow Green Inn, stated that he knew Smith well. He was a short, thick-set man, with a high blood pressure. He found difficulty in walking quickly up hill, and after exertion he had a real colour. On Saturday evening he visited the inn at about 7.45 and played a game of cards in the tap room. He had one pint of beer. Shortly before 9 0’clock without any warning, Smith lurched forward and gave a gasp. He became unconscious and expired five minutes later.
Dr. Mould, who was called to the inn, said he found Smith dead, and in his opinion death was due to natural causes, probably acute heart failure.
Below – From the Stroud Brewery Courier, September 1952.
The Citizen, Monday 10th January 1972 – Pub closure protest – our only social amenity, say villagers: People at Ruscombe near Stroud staged a protest march through the village yesterday against the closaure of their local inn, the Ludlow Green. The collected signatures for a petition which will be sent to the brewery, Whitbread Flowers.
The inn closed on Saturday night and Mr John Cooper, landlord for nearly three years, is moving to the newly modernised Old Crown at Uley. Regular customers set up tables on the forecourt before the march began. A dartboard fixed to the inn wall was also in use. Among the first to sign the petition were three of Ludlow Green’s oldest customers, Mr Reg Barnett (68), Mr Wilfred Steel and Mr Percy Davis, both 67. Said Mr Barnett: “This building has been an inn for 90 years and I have known it for over 60. It is a disaster for the village that it should be closed now.”
Mr Dave Thornton, a leader of the campaign, said: “It is the only social amenity we have in Ruscombe. There are no shops, no evening bus service and now people will have to go elsewhere for a drink. I have known three licensees in the 20 years I have been a regular and I have never heard anyone say it doesn’t pay. There are two public houses in Whiteshill, so why not even things out a little.”
Mr Stanley Reed, a licensee of the Ludlow Green who described the closure as a bitter blow to the village, said that in one season the inn had won darts, cribbage and quoits championships. A Whitbread Flowers’ spokesman said today that no decision had yet been taken on the Ludlow Green’s future, but the matter was under consideration.
The Citizen, 16th February 1972 – ‘Re-open our pub’ plea at Ruscombe: An appeal has been made to Stroud MP, Mr Anthony Kershaw, to try and secure the re-opening of the Ludlow Green Inn, Ruscombe. Villagers sent a petition to Colonel Whitbread, the brewery chief, when the 100-year-old inn was closed recently. It claimed that the Ludlow Green was the only place in Ruscombe where villagers past and present could meet.
But a reply from the brewery stated that the amount of trade being done was insufficient to justify the inn’s re-opening. The board had last week reaffirmed its closure decision. Now villagers have asked Mr. Kershaw for support. They told him that the closure was understood to be only temporary and open to reconsideration at a later date. Sad Mr. Dave Thornton, a leader of the campaign: “There ought to be a pub in every village.”
The Citizen, 16th August 1972 – £20,000 Property Deal: Two former pubs and an adjoining building site have been auctioneed at Stroud for more than £20,000. Offered by Davis, Champion and Payne in conjuction with Thomas E. Teague and Sons, the Ludlow Green Inn at Ruspidge was the first lot. It realised £11,000 and following it, the Oddfellows Arms in Summer Street, Stroud, was secured at £7,000. The purchaser also obtained the adjoining building site for a pair of houses for £5,000. A final lot, a building site at Dudbridge, was bought for £2,000.
The Ludlow Green Inn closed on Saturday 8th January 1972.
Map reference: SO 071831
Licensing Details:
Owner in 1891: Godsell & Sons, Salmon Springs Brewery, Stroud
Rateable value in 1891:
Type of licence in 1891: Beerhouse
Owner in 1903: Godsell & Sons, Salmon Springs Brewery, Stroud
Rateable value in 1903: £12.0s.0d.
Type of licence in 1903: Beerhouse
Closing time in 1903: 10pm
Landlords at the Ludlow Green Inn include:
1881 Reubin Steele
1891 Thomas Niblett Pollard
1903 Fanny Pollard
1927,1935 Frank E. Cratchley
1939 Francis C. Mills
1948 May Mills (died suddenly on 2nd July 1948. aged 55 years)
1960’s Stanley and Beryl Reid
1969-1972 John Cooper