The Roadmaker Inn is located on the B4221 just to the east of Junction 3 of the M50. The Gloucestershire / Herefordshire county border runs through Gorsley and the Roadmaker Inn is on the Herefordshire side, just a few yards outside the Gloucestershire boundary. There are no records of the premises in either the 1891 or 1903 Gloucestershire licensing books, confirming the pub was in the Herefordshire administration.
Originally called the New Inn, it had a change of identity in 1976 to become the Roadmaker Inn. Landlord Bill Pierce told ‘Citizen’ reporter David Browne in a Pubwatch feature in 1997: “It doesn’t have anything to do with the M50, which is just down the road from here. The pub was built in 1847 and is named after a local man who built roads with chippings from a nearby quarry, which has long since closed. He built the New Inn as a place where he could brew cider and breed pigs – and probably retire to.”
In 2006 four former Gurkha soldiers took on the running of the Roadmaker inn. Together they clocked up a total of 76 years together in the 1st Royal Gurka Rifles. The pub now has a reputation for the excellence of its Nepalese dishes and its popularity means that to dine at the Roadmaker it is advisable to book in advance. There is a large bar area where meals are served. The restaurant overlooks the pub gardens.
A dining review in the ‘Citizen’ newspaper in October 2012 noted that ‘on one side of the building you have a very English looking inn but venture into the lounge bar and it has all the red carpet and golden guiding of a town centre curry house.’
The pub sign is still housed in an ornamental metal bracket, which features the castle trademark of the Cheltenham Brewery (West Country Breweries). There is also a ‘West Country Ales – Best in the West’ ceramic ornamental plaque still in situ.
Landlords at the New Inn / Roadmaker Inn:
1939 George Charles Stevens
1994,1997 Bill and Joan Pierce
2006,2009 Dil Thapamager, Keshar Sherchan, Ratna Rana & Ganesh Sherchan
