The Royal Toby, late 1950’s ‘estate pub’ in the Princess Elizabeth Way area of Cheltenham, was originally tied to the Bass Charrington Brewery.
In August 1992 it was bought by Banks’s Brewery of Wolverhampton and was renamed the Lion.
It was later sold as a free house and traded as the Gold Cup from April 2002 until closing down in 2005. The pub was demolished in May 2016 and, (at the time of writing in 2026) nearly ten years later, there has been no redevelopment of the site. A large artistic mural has been painted on the wall of the adjoining property that has survived.
Western Daily Press, Tuesday 8th June 1976 – Blaze hero returns to save budgies: Publican’s son, Allan Davies, was the hero of a £25,000 blaze which swept through the Royal Toby, Cheltenham, early yesterday. Allan, 21, a barman at the inn in Princess Elizabeth Way, Cheltenham, went into the flat above the inn to help his mother, Mrs Ellen Davies, and their Alsatian Major to safety. Then he went back into the smoke-filled flat to rescue the family’s budgerigars and collapsed on the floor. But Allan quickly came round and carried the two birds from the blazing building.
Allan and his partly disabled father. Mr Harry Davies, aged 52, tried to fight the fire themselves. But Cheltenham firemen had to be called in. Brewery officials yesterday put the value of the damage at £25,000.
Gloucestershire Echo, Friday 11th September 1987 – Check on glass: Police are investigating complaints that the pavement outside a Cheltenham pub is so glass littered and dangerous that someone could get hurt. Officers are checking after complaints were raised at a meeting of Hester’s Way Residents’ Association.
Gloucestershire Echo, Thursday 22nd September 1988 – Trouble pub stays closed: Plans to re-open the trouble-torn Royal Toby public house in Coronation Square, Cheltenham, have had to be shelved – because no one can be found to run it. The pub close earlier this year when a relief manager needed hospital treatment after three fights at the Bass Charringtom house within a week.
Today the area manager for the brewery, Mr Ray Huxtable, said it had been hoped to open the Toby during the past few weeks, “but until we find a manager we can’t.” The brewery’s publicity department said in a statement: “The Royal Toby is closed until further notice.”
Gloucestershire Echo, Thursday 17th November 1988 – Pub opening: A troubled Cheltenham pub has re-opened for daytime business after months of keeping its doors firmly shut. The Royal Toby in Coronation Square, Hesters Way, was closed by brewers Bass Taverns several months ago after a relief manager was taken to hospital following the latest in a series of fights there. A spokesman for the brewery said today the Royal Toby had opened its doors to customers once more – but only between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday to Saturday and on Sunday lunchtimes.
Gloucestershire Echo, Wednesday 13th Augut 1997 -Dry bar leaves us flat: Punters at the Lion in Coronation Square have been barred from their favourite tipples because the pub can’t sell alcohol. The bar in Hester’s Way, has sported a “soft drinks only” sign in its windows since Friday when magistrates turned down its application for a licence. Problems began when the last permanent landlord left the pub three weeks ago. A temporary manager applied for a licence on Friday but it was refused by magistrates. Regional manager for Banks’s Brewery Rod Walker said: “We’re hopefully going to start serving beer again tomorrow when we have a new licensee with a new application.
Above: Gloucestershire Echo, 17th April 2002 (image Jo Harvell)
Gloucestershire Echo, Friday 31st January 2014 – New lease of life for empty pub rumoured: (by Aled Thomas)
Rumours abound in Hester’s Way that a pub once compared to the Marie Celeste may return. The Gold Cup on the corner of Princes Elizabeth Way and Coronation Square closed suddenly in 2005, with glasses still on the bar, and has remained locked and shutteres ever since. But last week workmen arrived and removed the sign. And locals have heard that the pub may be about to reopen.
One neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: “I don’t think it will work. They’ve tried pubs there before and changed them and they’ve always been a bit of a nightmare really.”
When the new owners of the square went inside the pub for the first time in eight years last spring, they saw the grim sight of half-full glasses and dirty plates still sitting at the bar, and beer pumps covdered in years of dust and grime. Parts of the ceiling had collapsed, the floor was pocked with holes where the wooden surface had caved in, and the toilets were broken.
Despite the rumours and the activity of workmen last week, yesterday the pub remained silent with its windows covered by plywood and steel and high fences barring access to the door and yard behind.
Gloucestershire Echo, Thursday 26th May 2016 – Golden chance for big change: (by Robin Jenkins)
There are hopes that a new shop could be built on the site of the former Gold Cup pub in Hesters Way. The redundant drinking hole in Coronation Square, which closed in 2005, has been demolished.
Nobody was available for comment from Coronation One Ltd., the company that holds the lease for the Cheltenham Borough Council owned square. But in October, it received planning permission from the council to demolish the pub and build a retail unit on the site.
Landlords:
1976 Harry and Ellen Davies
1992 Bob and Diana Pavey
1997 Nigel Robinson (Lion)
1998 David Robinson
2002 Patrick Lewis