The Priory Inn is housed in the stables of an 18th Century priory. It has wooden beams, exposed stone walls and original wall hooks. The building was a transport café in the 1960’s and was converted to a pub in the 1970’s. The pub now has 14 en-suite bedrooms. From 2004 the Priory Inn was a gastro pub selling real ales often sourced from local Gloucestershire breweries. In 2018 the Priory Inn was acquired by Arkell’s Brewery of Stratton St. Margarets, Swindon.


Advertisement June 1982

‘Real Ale in Gloucestershire’ (Campaign for Real Ale, Gloucestershire branch 1996)

Wilts & Gloucestershire Standard, Thursday 3rd May 2001 – Remorse after pub fracas: A 20 year old man of Northfield Road, Tetbury punched a man in the face and broke his nose, a court head. Prosecutor Martin Hunt said the man had been drinking heavily at the Priory Inn before the assault took place. Defending Anne Frost said that his relationship with his girlfriend had broken up and the defendant had seen her with one of his friends in the pub that night. Mrs Frost added: “He is extremely remorseful about it.”


Wilts & Gloucestershire Standard, Thursday 3rd July 2003: A 29-year-old woman received a formal caution after mashing a window at The Priory Inn in Tetbury. Staff at the inn detained the woman and called police. After enquiries she was arrested and taken to Stroud Police Station where she was interviewed and admitted the offence. The incident happened just before 12.40 am on June 28th.


Wilts & Glos Standard, 13th November 2003 – An old coaching inn with charm and character: Located in the heart of Tetbury, the Snooty Fox Hotel, is surrounded by antique shops and historic country houses. The Snooty Fox has all the tradition friendliness and charm of an old coaching inn whilst offering present day comforts and the best standards of food and service.

This carefully restored 16th century mellow stone building occupies a prime site in Tetbury. With a wealth of original brick, stone and timber features, the hotel offers a welcoming and timeless atmosphere. With an informal atmosphere, the food on offer includes daily home cooked specials as well as lighter meals. The cosy stone walled bar is the ideal place to enjoy traditional cask conditioned ales or a range of fine beers in front of the large inglenook fireplace.


Wilts & Gloucestershire Standard, 18th November 2004 – Re-opened Priory Inn: Tetbury’s newly refurbished The Priory Inn has reopened. Converted from the stable block of an old Priory, The Priory Inn was lovingly refurbished by Dave and Tanya Kelly throughout the summer to provide a contemporary and comfortable experience within this ancient building. And whether you want to enjoy the selection of real ales and mouth-watering dishes focused on local produce or simply to sink into the leather sofas and enjoy a frothy hot chocolate while you read the papers in the coffee café. The Priory Inn has an appeal to all.

The inn’s 14 en-suite bedrooms have also been redesigned to ensure maximum comfort and calm. Dave, who met his wife in London while they were both consultants within the hotel and tourism industry, said: “We decided that consulting was always in the board room and that we were no longer close to customers. We took over in February and operated under the name Old Priory Inn from February until May. then during the summer there was complete refurbishment and it’d now The Priory Inn. We took an old rundown pub and turned it into a new and striking gastropub and hotel.”


There’s live music on at The Priory Inn on 8th May 2005. Katharina Heinrich will be performing her own jazz compositions.

There will be live music at The Priory Inn on Sunday, 26th June 2005 with Buddy Valentino. Buddy has been compared to Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson.


County-based singer-songwriter Dik Cadbury will be stepping into the spotlight on 27th August 2006 for an evening of music at The Priory Inn. The performance at the Tetbury inn starts at 8pm and admission is free.


The Citizen, Thursday, 29th September 2006 – Finest produce helps pub win awards treble: The Priory Inn gastropub in Tetbury has won a top award from the hospitality industry for the third time in under a year. And according to owner Tanya Kelly, it is all down to use of fine local produce for simple, delicious dishes. The Priory Inn has scooped a 2006 silver award for dining pubs from the Taste of the West Food and Drink Awards. It comes less than a year after it received a Harden’s 2006 Restaurant Remy award. More recently it added the “Most Distinctive Local Menu” from the Cotswold Life Food and Drink Awards to its collection.

Now in its 13th year, the Taste of the West Food and Drink Awards recognise the finest in food, drink, hospitality and food retail in the South West. Tanya, who is director and co-owner of The Priory Inn with her husband Dave, said: “We are absolutely thrilled. We are surrounded by the very best ingredients and passionate growers and producers and our chefs Colin Marshall and James Henry take full advantage by using the freshest local ingredients in their simple and delicious dishes.”


Accolade for Priory Inn: A family-friendly gastro pub in the heart of the Cotswolds has been honoured by Taste Of The West for the second year running. The Priory Inn at Tetbury has received a silver award for in the Dining Pub category of 2007 Food and Drink awards.


The Citizen, 23rd October 2008 – Our menu is at the heart of the county: Chefs at the Priory Inn have put food miles on the map. The pub and restaurant in Tetbury will only be serving food from within a 30 mile radius of the town. Owners Tanya and Dave Kelly want to use as many local suppliers as possible.

Tanya, 41, said: “We are trying to buy everything within a 30 mile radius of Tetbury, obviously with some products this is not always possible such as olives, but we always try to use local suppliers or ethical and free trade suppliers. We have been working in the 30-mile radius since we took over about four years ago when we decided that there was such a wealth of talent and great produce in the local area there was no real need to go anywhere else.”



Toast to the Priory: The Priory Inn in Tetbury has made it into CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide 2009. Owner Dave Kelly said: “The countryside surrounding Tetbury provides great scope for serving high quality ale and it is a good feeling to be recognised by the CAMRA members who place so much value on well-kept beer. The launch of the Good Beer Guide 2009 coincides with Tetbury’s Food & Drink Festival between September 24th and 28th.


The Citizen, 15th March 2010 – Come dine with us… in the dark: Diners will be plunged into darkness in a bid to help save the planet. Visitors to the Priory Inn in Tetbury will drink and dine by candlelight as staff prepare to switch the lights off. Managers at the London Road based hotel will be flocking the switches off as part of the World Wildlife Fund’s “Earth Hour” campaign. The lights will go off for an hour at 8.30pm on Saturday, 27th March.


Stroud News & Journal, 1st May 2010 – Three cheers for ale: A real ale and cider day is being held at The Priory Inn in Tetbury from 3-7pm tomorrow. There will be ales from breweries Uley, Goffs and Wickwar.


Wilts & Glos Standard, 7th September 2010 – Pub’s trade offer: A pub renowned for its unwavering commitment to local produce has embraced an old-fashioned bartering system. It has now extended its family of suppliers to include local gardeners and allotment owners. Growers have been turning up at the back door of The Priory Inn with armfuls of garden herbs, beautiful heads of fresh lettuce, trays of succulent berries and currants, rip plums and even occasionally freshly cut flowers. In return they are given vouchers – to the current market value of the goods thy donate – which they can use against food, drink or even hotel stays at The Priory Inn.


Dave Kelly behind the bar of the Priory Inn (freehouse).

£1k Inn-valuable for X-ray machine, 5th April 2012: Fundraisers helped swell the coffers of a campaign to buy a £60,000 X-ray machine. Tetbury Lions handed £1,000 to the town’s hospital trust on behalf of The Priory Inn where it has been based since it was formed in 1973. Because of increasing membership, the club is moving to bigger premises. To say thank you for sponsoring and fund-raising over the years, the money was handed over on behalf of the owners of The Priory Inn, Dave and Tanya Kelly.


Stroud News & Journal, 4th September 2019 – Ex-rugby manager Greg tackles hospitality trade: He has only been at Tetbury’s Priory inn for two months but locals and guests are already starting to notice the difference the former Chinnor RFC general manager Greg Heath is making. The 58-year old marathon and triathlon enthusiast left his role managing the up and coming Oxfordshire rugby side to run the Arkell’s Brewery hotel.

With the help of his supervisory team of Luke Dawe, Shaun Beesley, Lorenzo Verri and Adam Hefferman, thy have introduced new systems for the bar and restaurant and are in the stages of planning exciting Christmas and New Year celebrations. “Hospitality has been my passion and sole career since 1979,” explained Greg. “I was the general manager at Chinnor RFC driving the commercial side of the business and before that I was a freelance hospitality consultant and event manager.”

“One of the first things you see at The Priory Inn is the Jekka McVicar created garden. This was a real attraction for me in a town where we also have the Highgrove Estate and gardens. The team here has been fantastic in my first two months in the job and we are looking forward to making more changes that we think will improve our food and drink offerings, we are so lucky to have such great produce and suppliers in the Cotswolds and our pizza and our la carte menus currently showcase that.”, Mr Heath said.



The Citizen, Thursday 31st March 2022 – New management keen to retain pub’s local links: A family who ran their own restaurant on the other side of the world, have now taken over one of Tetbury’s best known pubs. Matt and Natalie Starkey have moved to Gloucestershire to manage the 14-bedroomed The Priory Inn. The husband and wife team had their own restaurant in Tasmania before moving to the UK and running a pub in Battle, East Sussex. Now they have brought their two children to Tetbury to take over The Priory Inn, with the aim of making it accessible to all and a great family destination.

Chef Matt said: “We have moved to Tetbury to raise our children in a beautiful town and to try our hand at running a bigger venue. It is a lovely area and we have already met so many great people. Having had my own restaurant before and doing my own butchery I really want to overhaul what the offering is here. It is important to have classics like ham, egg and chips, but I will also be having a pork special as I have already developed a relation with Plump Hill Farm, to use their Gloucester Old Spot.”

“I will be sourcing food from the allotment, at the back of the hotel, when its ready to go, as well as using herbs from the amazing garden at the front of the building.”, he added.


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Courtesy Paul Best.

2003 Peter Shelley

2004 (Feb),2011 Dave and Tanya Kelly

2019 Greg Heath

2023 Matt and Natalie Starkey

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