Cheltenham Borough Council, Planning (dated 14th October 2008) ‘Change of use of former Cheltenham County Court building to A4 use (drinking establishment), including external and internal alterations.’
Gloucestershire Echo, Wednesday 6th July 2005 – Court shuts doors after 134 years: More than 100 years of legal history ended with the closing of Cheltenham’s county court. Staff cleared their desks and packed files into boxes as they prepared to move the main court offices in Gloucester or temporary offices at Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court. The court has been closed in order to raise money to rebuid courts in Cheltenham and Gloucester. It is part of an overhaul in the county’s court service which could see the magistrates’ court in St Georges Road demolished to make room for a £40 million pound replacement. The old county court building in County Court Road has been abandoned because it needs £100,000 of repairs. Parts of the walls are crumbling due to damp, the radiators are leaking and the electrics and plumbling are coming to the end of their life. The Victorian courtroom, which has not been used regularly since 2000, has many original features dating back from when it was built in 1871.
Gloucestershire Echo, Thursday 21st July 2005 – Court building may become restaurant: Cheltenham’s former county court building is set for a new lease of life – as a restuarant. The firm behind Le Petit Blanc is in talks over the future of the premises. Ian Glyn, director of Loch Fyne Restuarants, said the company actively seeks out unusual and historic buildings, most of which are away from prime shopping areas.
Gloucestershire Echo, Friday 22nd August 2008 – County court is eyed up for bar: Plans have been revealed to convert Cheltenham’s county court building into a drinking establishment. Paul Haskins has applied to Cheltenham Borough Council to turn the empty Grade II listed building into a watering hole. It is not known whether it will be a wine bar or traditional pub.
Gloucestershire Echo, 16th November 2010 – “Is our county court food for thought chef?” Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s arrival in Cheltenham could bring one of the town’s historic buildings back to life. That’s the hope of Cheltenham Civic Society members who have watched with sadness as the former county courthouse, off Regent Street, has gone to rack and ruin in recent years. Empty since 2005, the Grade II listed building has become a haven for homeless people – tramps use its once grand portico as a place to doss down for the night. Last week, the Echo revealed that Jamie, star of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, was keen to revamp the venue, turning into an Italian Restaurant.
Gloucestershire Echo, Thursday 14th July 2011 – Jamie gets ready to court diners with Italian treats: Diners will come to order at Jamie Oliver’s new restaurant in Cheltenham’s former county court. the chef’s great friend and teacher Gennaro Contaldo was on site yesterday overseeing finishes to the venue, which opens later this month. Many of thee original features have been retained into its transformation into the latest in the growing Jamie’s Italian chain, which will serve a range of Meditteranean dishes.
Gloucestershire Echo, 30th July 2011 -Review – ‘Take me down to Jamie’s place” (by Tanya Gledwill) For months, there’s been a buzz of excitement ripping through Cheltenham’s food scene: the whisper that Jamie Oliver’s Italian chain was coming to town. Scaffolding went up, skips were delivered and scores of rigger-booted workmen spent weeks, flat-out, transforming the old County Court house into a dazzling new restaurant to join the burgeoning Jamie’s Italian stable. Sharp-elbowed, sharp-tongued critics jostled to be first in the queue to sample its charms.
Hefty iron gates, clipped bay trees and an exquisite tiled floor give way to soaring ceilings, walls swathed in teal, olive seating, exposed brickwork and wonky floors. Even the wall lights are shaped like the scales of justice; all the old court benches have been incorporated into the seating plan and the undeniably spooky loos are way down rickety steps in the cellar’s old cells.
Gloucestershire Echo, Friday 3rd February 2017 – Goodbye Jamie as venue is officially closed: Jamie’s Italian in Cheltenham has closed its doors for the final time. In January celebrity chef Jamie Oliver announced the decision to close his namesake eatery in County Court Road – blaming it on the pro-Brexit vote. On Wednesday, customers dined for a final time at the restaurant. Yesterday members of staff were packing up stock to be reused by other Jamie’s restaurants still open across the country. The five-year-old branch is one of six facing closure. Others are Aberdeen, Exeter, Ludgate in Central London, Richmond and Tunbridge Wells.
Gloucestershire Echo, Wednesday 28th June 2017 – Gastropub plans changes to former Jamie’s Italian site: A historic building in the heart of Cheltenham will welcome in guests once again after doors were shut earlier this year. The old County Court building in Regent Street had been the venue for Jamie’s Italian before it closed earlier this year. Now it will become a high-end gastropub after the building was bought by company Brunning and Price which specialises in gastropubs.
The deli counter installed by Jamie’s will be ripped out and the plans include the restoration of several of the building’s historic fireplaces. The application report proposes moving the kitchen to the basement meaning the ground and first fllors can be used by guests. The ground floor will include a new fireplace, a snug area and an accessible toilet. Upstairs, as well as the loss of the deli counter, the original parquet flooring will be restored and new seating areas created,