In November 1956 it was reported that two boys aged 10 and 13 struck upon a good idea to get some money for much needed sweets. They went to the yard of the Kings Head Inn, Cinderford, and stole seven empty beer bottles and handed them in at the Prince of Wales off-licence in Pembroke Street. They then spent the money on sweets, the magistrates heard at Littledean Juvenille Court. But they hadn’t planned on getting caught, therefore the sweets left a rather sour taste in their mouths.
From the site of the Kings Head on the corner of Abbey Street and Woodside Street to Pembroke Street is not that far. Presumably those two young lads could have run the distance in just over a minute.
The actual location of the Prince of Wales off-licence has to be determined but a house on the corner plot of Flaxley Street and Pembroke Street seems to be the most likely building to have once had a commercial use. Directly opposite would have been the Red Lion pub in Flaxley Street.
