In January 2012 Club EXS, the only gay nightclub / bar in Cheltenham, closed. In October 2012 the new owners, Mainly Beers Ltd, applied to Cheltenham Borough Council for permission to turn it into a traditional drinking house specialising in real ale. They claimed the building was in a very poor state of repair with “a lack of maintenance for a very long time”. In January 2013 the council approved the application.
