The Prince of Wales was a three storey Victorian pub near GL1, the Gloucester Leisure Centre. The pub, on the corner of Prince Street, used to be near to the Midland Railway (Eastgate) Station, which was on the site of the present Asda Supermarket.
It was once a tied house of Arnold Perrett & Co. Ltd., Wickwar Brewery. It has been said that the pub resembled a wedding cake, presumably because of the stylised rendered exterior, which has been painted in cream and blue tones. Places Trading acquired the Prince of Wales from Whitbread in 2001. The local pub company owned the nearby Famous Pint Pot, together with the Baker Street (Hauliers Arms) and the Brunswick.
The nearby leisure centre had a £15 million redevelopment and reopened as GL1 in 2002. It was intended that the Prince of Wales would double in size to take advantage of the potential extra custom from GL1. Keith Reynolds, managing director of Places Trading told the ‘Citizen’ in September 2001: “We plan to follow on the Prince of Wales scheme after the Pint Pot, probably at the end of next year (2002). It is a pub that has traded well in the past and could easily do again.” The proposed improvements never took place.
The Prince of Wales was closed and boarded up in 2018.
The Citizen: October 6th, 1998: 50 years ago: (October 1948) The death has taken place after a long illness of Captain Harry Culpin, licensee of the Prince of Wales, Station Road, Gloucester. He was 71. He came to Gloucester in 1920 after a long service in the Army.
Gloucester Journal: Saturday May 11th, 1974: It’s goodbye to Alfie and Elsie Drake, mine host at the Prince of Wales, Station Road, Gloucester, for the past 20 years. The couple came to the pub in 1954, and both have been prominent in the local LVA and Ladies’ Auxiliary circles. Alfie, a former railway driver, was LVA secretary, while Elsie has been chairman of the Ladies’ Auxiliary for the past 11 years. They have a son, Bruce, who works for Taylor Woodrow, a daughter, Lynn (Mrs Phillips), and one grandson, Darren (aged 14 months). At a farewell party last week, customers presented the couple with a wall clock, and the Ladies’ Auxiliary gave Elsie a stereo record player at a dinner recently. “We have been both very happy there, and are sorry to leave,” she said. “But we are looking forward to some peace and quiet now that we are nearing retirement age.”
Gloucestershire CAMRA: Real Ale in Gloucestershire. Prince of Wales, Station Road: Smart three-storey Victorian pub close to rail and coach stations. Seasonal and guest ales available, some on gravity (G). Occasional barbecues in summer. Bargain accommodation and food. Disco Wednesday, Friday & Saturday. Beers – Greene King Abbot; Morland Old Speckled Hen (G), Wickwar Brand Oak Bitter, Wickwar Olde Merryford.
The Citizen: March 3rd, 1988 – Elvers, Spanish style: Severn elvers will be served – Spanish style – to the Mayor of Gloucester when a City pub re-opens this week. Carlos Diaz Fernandez, landlord of the Prince of Wales pub in Station Road, will be cooking the baby eels in earthenware pots with chilli peppers, olive oil and garlic. He said “Elvers are exported to Spain from Gloucester as a rare delicacy. It is fitting that the Mayor should now try Gloucester’s most famous export Spanish style.”
The Mayor, Councillor Andrew Gravells is going to lunch on Friday with Carlos and his wife Marion who have been at the Prince of Wales for nearly two years. The Whitbread Flowers pub has been extended and upgraded at a cost of £90,000. A greater range of food is being provided but the pub will continue to run its traditional English games teams of pool, crib and dominoes.
The Citizen: Monday October 5th, 1998 – Pub boss hits back over music order. By Sheila Patel: A Gloucester pub owner who was taken to London’s High Court for playing recorded music at her premises without a licence says she was unaware of the proceedings. Heather Warren, owner of the Prince of Wales pub on Station Road, was given a ‘pay-up or shut-up’ ultimatum and risks a two-year jail sentence and a fine of up to £10,000 if she disobeys the order in future. There could also be a legal bill for around £1,000.
But Warren, who was not in court, says she already has a licence and was not informed about being taken to court. She said: “I have been paying £136 a month to the Performing Rights Society (PRS) for a licence since I started running the pub about three years ago.” On Friday, the court banned the pub from playing music because it does not have a Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL) licence. Counsel for PPL, Charlotte May told the judge one of their inspectors heard songs Never Ever by All Saints played when he visited the pub in March. High Court judge Mr Justice Rattee rules that until Warren brings her up to date any premises she runs must be a ‘music-free zone.’
Roger Pearson, a legal expect from UK Law News, said both PRS and PPL licences were needed unless live performances were being staged. He said a PRS licence is needed for all types of live and recorded music like radios and a PPL licence was required for ‘mechanically’ recorded music such as records, tapes and CD’s. The plan applies to ‘mechanically’ recorded music.
The Citizen: October 7th, 1998: No-music pub regulars vow to stand by their woman: (edit) Regulars at a Gloucester pub whose owner was taken to London’s High Court for playing recorded music without a licence have defended their landlady. Heather Warren, of the Prince of Wales in Station Road, said she was unaware she needed separate licenses for live and recorded music and had been paying for a Performing Rights Society (PRS) licence for three years. She was given a “pay-up or shut-up” ultimatum and risks a two-year jail sentence and a £10,000 fine if she disobeys the order in future.
Mrs Warren’s customers defended their landlady, saying the licensing laws should be made clearer. They criticised the licensing system which they said should take responsibility for informing people of their statutory obligations. DJ Mark Leigh has worked at the Prince of Wales and is a regular customer at the pub. He said: “I think it’s disgusting that there should be two licensees to play music. It’s too much money for landlords to have to pay and it should be covered by one single licence.”
The Citizen: February 2nd, 1999 – Pub door arson bid sparks probe: (edit) Detectives are investigating a suspected arson attack at a Gloucester pub. Acting Inspector Terry Onions said police and fire-crews were called to the Prince of Wales pub on Station Road, Gloucester, at around 1.20am on Sunday. “It appears that someone stacked up an old sign against one of the pub’s doors at set fire to it,” he said. “The fire service attended and damped down the fire and the damage was not believed to be extensive. Acting Inspector Onions said the fire was being treated as arson.
The Citizen: Tuesday, April 13th 1999 – City pub’s ‘Smirnoff’ was not the real thing: (edit) Liquid in a Smirnoff bottle in Richard and Heather Warren’s Gloucester pub was vodka – but it wasn’t Smirnoff, a court heard. Analysis showed it did not have the characteristic sugar content of Smirnoff vodka, said Jane Gadsden, prosecuting at Gloucester Magistrates Court. Mr Warren, 31, and his wife, 39, who ran the Prince of Wales pub in Station Road until the end of last year, pleaded guilty to falsely applying the description Smirnoff. They were each fined £75 and ordered to pay £75 towards prosecution costs. Miss Gadsden said the offence was detected when a trading standards inspector went to the pub on May 22nd last year and took samples of spirits on sale. The couple gave up the business in December and were now unemployed with debts of £3,500 to pay vendors. Their four years at the pub, which they had handed back to Whitbread, were their only time in the licensed trade.
Advertisement: Whitbread Pub Partnerships – “Ever thought of running your own pub?’ Viewing Day. Tuesday 12th October 1999. Whitbread Pub Partnerships are seeking an innovative and enthusiastic individual or couple for the Prince of Wales, Station Road, Gloucester, and we are pleased to offer this house on a new 20-year lease. The Prince of Wales is a traditional tavern which benefits from local business people / shoppers at lunchtimes and as a good local following with a younger drinking element in the evenings. Approximate ingoing to purchase fixtures and fittings and stock c.£19,000.
The Citizen: April 18th, 2000 – Ex-landlord told to stop all the music: (edit) As the words of the song Red Alert echoed through a Gloucester pub its landlord would have done well to heed its message. For one of the visitors at the Prince of Wales pub while the track was being played was a music licence inspector from Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL). At the High Court in London, Gary Ross, formerly of the Prince of Wales pub in Station Road, Gloucester, was banned from playing music at any pub until he got a licence. If he disobeys the ban he could, in addition to prison, also face a heftly fine. And, as a result of the court proceedings he can also expect a legal bill for £900. It is understood Mr Ross left the Prince of Wales some months ago. The pubs new landlord confirmed that he has a music licence and said he did not wish to comment on the court case.
The Citizen: Wednesday, September 13th, 2000 – Vagrancy at pub is denied: A man, of Worcester Street, Gloucester, has denied a charge of vagrancy. The 33-year-old was accused of being found on enclosed premises – the Prince of Wales public house – last month. He pleaded not guilty to the charge at Gloucester magistrates court yesterday. He was granted unconditional bail and his case was adjourned until November 7th.
The Citizen: September 25th, 2001 – Pub is set to double in size. By Hugh Worsnip: The Prince of Wales is the latest Gloucester pub due to get a massive makeover in the wake of the £15m leisure centre redevelopment. The former Whitbread house in Station Road has been bought by local pub entrepreneurs, Places Trading, which already owns the Famous Pint Pot, Baker Street, Welsh Harp, and the Brunswick. The wedding cake-style Prince of Wales is just a stone’s throw from the leisure centre, which is due to reopen next year. Plans for doubling in size of the pub at a cost of some £400,000 have been sent to the city council’s planning department, where they are currently available for inspection.
Keith Reynolds is managing director of Places Trading, and chairman of both Gloucester Licensed Victuallers Association and Pubwatch. He said: “The rebuilding of the leisure centre is rejuvenating the whole area. We are working on two projects there, the Famous Pint Pot and the Prince of Wales. The Pint Pot will be a new music and dance venue in a new building capable of holding 1,200 people. We are currently negotiating about a new licence. In complete contrast, the aim is to make the Prince of Wales a much more traditional pub with a restaurant in the brewers’ fare style, a new skittle alley, a taxi office, and six flats above for permanent staff at both that pub and the Pint Pot. It will mean the doubling in size of the building, a new entrance on the corner of Nettleton Road and a conservatory on the Price Street side.”
“We plan to follow on the Prince of Wales scheme after the Pint Pot, probably at the end of next year. It is a pub that has traded well in the past and could easily do so again. None of the old pub will be demolished and a new building created to the rear, running from Prince Street to Nettleton Road in what is now a garden and parking area. The development is expected to create six new jobs.”
The Citizen: April 16th, 2003 – Pub extension plan backed: Planning officials have given permission for a large extension to the Prince of Wales pub in Station Road, Gloucester, to provide an extra serving area, staff office and taxi office.
The Citizen: February 7th, 2005 – Martin Kirby Column: ‘I often think the Prince of Wales is a sorry sight. Now before someone bangs me up in the Tower, I should point out that I’m not referring to HRH. The Prince I have in mind was a friendly little boozer where a decent pint and good grub was on offer. The Prince of Wales is on the corner of Prince Street and it was, at one time, undergoing refurbishment. I’d like to see that refurbishment finished and the pub reopened one day soon.’
The Citizen: November 11th, 2005 – Letters. Board up properties: ‘I walked past the Prince of Wales pub in Station Road, Gloucester, the other day and noticed how derelict it is getting with broken windows. Why are these empty properties not boarded up when they close to prevent this happening? It is only a matter of time before the drug addicts start to use it and probably set it on fire and then the overworked emergency services will be called and expected to risk their lives searching the building for down-and-outs and drug users.’ (J.M. Colerne Drive, Hucclecote).
The Citizen: May 21st, 2014 – Eyesore pub turns into blank canvas for Paint Jam. By Mike Wilkinson: (edit) Street artists can’t wait to get their hands on the derelict Prince of Wales pub. The building’s owner has allowed the Gloucester Paint Jam festival organisers to use it as a blank canvas for the weekend, when the festival runs from August 1st to 3rd. Gloucester’s well known street artist Beastie, who is co-ordinating the festival, said: “Securing the Prince of Wales pub as part of the festival is brilliant news. It means we can expand the Paint Jam, as hoped, into different areas of the city centre. It would be great for people to turn the corner and find artists painting an entire building and we plan to paint the whole thing.”
The Citizen: July 8th, 2015 – Derelict pub will be torn down to make way for ‘quality’ flats. By Daniel Chipperfield: The Prince of Wales pub is set to be demolished now developers have got the green light to build 14 flats. The eyesore pub in Station Road, Gloucester, has existed in some from since 1842 but closed in 2002 when proposed developments never took place. It has remained boarded up ever since. It got a makeover last year as part of arts festival Paint Jam.
The two-bedroom flats, with eight parking spaces between them will be built by K. Head Developments. Agent Toby Coombes from Coombes Everitt Architects said demolition should start in the next few weeks. “This build will add to the area,” he said. “The building has been empty since 2002 and has become an eyesore. The flats will sit there quite neatly and provide high quality good value flats which is desperately needed in Gloucester.”
K Head Developments must carry out some further archaeological work after the building is demolished before the flats can be built. But neighbour Philip Edgell is unhappy about the size of the development which will overlook his home. “As pensioners we may be considered by some to be automatically opposed to change,” he said “This we would emphatically refute but we find it hard to understand why one of the largest five bedroomed houses on the estate should need enlarging to such a disproportionate degree.” He added: “This is worrying and unwelcome, particularly when you consider the extent and massive size of the extension. The effect will be extremely overbearing and make it look as though the whole property has been moved towards us.”
Landlords at the Prince of Wales include:
1859 John Bond
1870 John Harris
1879 J. James (Prince of Wales, Market Street)
1885 Thomas Hy. Buckland
1893 N.E. Foorte
1902,1906 Alfred H. Smith
1919 Walter Stephen Vowles
1927,1936,1939 Captain Harry Culpin (died in October 1948)
1954-1974 Alfred W. & Elsie Drake (Alfie Drake retired in April 1974. He was former secretary of Gloucester Licensed Victualler’s Association)
1979 Joe and Joyce Vango
1988 Carlos Diaz & Marion Fernandez
1998 Richard and Heather Warren
2000 Gary Ross
2001 John Heist
