The Seymour, at one time known as the Seymour Hotel, was for many years run by members of the Ramstedt family, starting with a Mt C.J. Ramstedt in 1893 and the family tenure ending with with Charles Ramstedt, who was behind the bar from 1939 to 1957. Mr Carl Ramstedt founded Ramstedt Brothers at the back of the Seymour Hotel in the 1920’s but soon moved to the Bristol Road garage which served the firm from the 1930’s onwards. It became known as dealers in Ford, Hillman and Humber. Carl Ramstedt died in August 1988, aged 84.
The Seymour Hotel was once tied to Godsell’s Brewery of Salmon Springs, Stroud. The brewery embellished the pub with ornate carvings depicting their ‘malt shovel in hand’ trade mark which graced the entrance. Weathered over the years, this feature was deemed not worth saving when the pub closed in 2010 and is now hidden in the subsequent conversion to residential apartments.
In its last few years as a pub the Seymour gained some notoriety with headline news of violent assaults on or near the premises, drunkenness, and a serious incident when the landlord was stabbed in an robbery.
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The Citizen, 13th August 1981 – Shop may go for pub extension: The Linden area of Gloucester could lose another of its local shops if Whitbread Flowers go ahead with the plan to extend the Seymour Hotel. Members of the City planning sub-committee last night went against the advice of their planning officials and granted permission for the brewery to extend the hotel into Nos 73 and 75 Linden Road.
One of the houses is a thriving wool shop much used by local residents, according to principal planning assistant Mr David Evans, who recommended refusal of the brewery’s plans on the grounds that it was against the council’s policy of protecting and encouraging local shopping facilities. He also pointed out that a proposed new ladies toilet for the pub to be built on at the back could prove to be a nuisance to occupants of the house.
Councillor Peter Robins (Con, Kingsholm) said that as the brewery owned the house containing the wool shop its use could cease at any time. It was better to have an adequate pub than an inadequate pub and perhaps no wool shop at all. Councillor Phillip Harris (Lab, Barton) did not think that a wool shop was something that necessarily fulfilled a specifically local need, or was used for “topping up” shopping. Chief planning officer, Mr Ian Stuart, said the Council’s shopping policy was to try and retain “corner shops” in areas outside the City centre and the wool shop was a thriving business.
There were three objections from local people to the brewery plan, which would extend the lounge into the wool shop and create a relief manager’s flat in the second house. The objectors said the wool shop was more of use to the community than the pub extension, the location of the ladies toilet was unacceptable, and the extension would aggravate traffic congestion in adjoining streets.
The committee agrees to Councillor Robin’s proposal that the change of use from shop and dwelling house to pub extension should be allowed. Councillor Gordon Williams (Con, Eastgate) declared an interest in the application and took no part in the discussion. His sister is manageress of the hotel.
The Citizen, 30th November 1981 – City shop re-opens after protest: The Linden Wool shop, which was forced to close following a controversial planning decision to permit the extension of the Seymour Hotel, today opened at new premises. Customers raised a petition against the plan and now Mrs Rose Williams, who ran the shop for many years, has handed over to her niece Mrs Jane Gavin, who has found new premises in an old grocery shop a few minutes walk away, at 2 Calton Road.
The Citizen, Saturday 2nd July 1983 – Hooker Steve is called to the bar: Rugby star Steve Mills, who is no stranger to pulling pints, did the honours at the re-opening of Gloucester’s Seymour Hotel. The only trouble with working behind a bar is that you don’t really get a chance to drink the stuff yourself. So, formalities over, Steve made a swift professional change and joined the customers.
Rugby players do have a reputation for enjoying a pint or two. Is it justified? “Well yes, I suppose it is,” said Steve, Gloucester and England hooker. “But we all like a drink don’t we – it’s just that we don’t mind admitting it.”
The Seymour has been standing since Victorian times and that is the theme of the major refurbishment that the brewers, Whitbread, have carried out there. The array of Victorian-styled furniture and fittings make for a warm, cosy, atmosphere in which to enjoy a quiet pint. The new games room contains a pool table and special darts facilities with a video scorer.
Managers Rob and Paula Rylatt are natives of Liverpool and only took over three months ago. They are very pleased with the changes that have been made. “Nothing had been done to the pub for 30 years and it was becoming a bit run down. That was a shame because our regulars are very nice people and it’s a lot more pleasant for them now,” said Rob.
The Citizen, 30th October 1989 – Gift for regular guy! Pub regular Bill Kingscott 50th year of drinking at the Seymour Hotel was celebrated in style when his drinking partners presented him with a tankard. Pub manager, William McGovern, arranged the surprise for Bill.
Bill (76), who lives in the same road as the hotel, has been a regular customer at the pub since before the war. Mr McGovern said: “It was a great surprise for Bill. He was very chuffed with his tankard.”
The Citizen, 19th May 1997 – Pub darts players on target for charity: Tireless punters at a Gloucester pub hit the bulls-eye when they raised £250 and have no presented it to a city children’s charity. Eight sporting staff and regulars at the Seymour Hotel spent 12 hours playing darts and have now presented a cheque to Sandy Bryce who received it on behalf of the Spring Centre.
Last month, teams of two played as many games as they could during a 15-minute shift before giving up the oche to the next pair. During the gruelling darts marathon the budding champions notched up 152 games and raised the £250 through sponsors and a swear box on the bar during the previous weeks. Landlord David Harvey said the night had been an enjoyable experience. He said: “We are very pleased about the amount of money we raised.”
The Citizen, 28th November 2002 – Making their mark: The landlord and customers of the Seymour Inn in Seymour Road, Gloucester, staged a 24-hour darts marathon to raise money for both the Motor Neurone and Headway Charities. A total of £800 has already been raised by the pub with a Jubilee day. Pictured are some of the players and getting in a little bit of extra kip, complete with nightcap, is customer ‘MJ’ Deane.
The Citizen, Friday 23rd December 2005. Rap for city pub after drinker dies: A city pub has come under attack from a coroner after a man who had been drinking there died of alcoholic poisoning. The man died at his mother’s home after drinking himself into “a stupor” while celebrating his 47th birthday. He had earlier collapsed unconscious at the Seymour Hotel. Post mortem tests showed that the man, of Cecil Road, Linden, had about five and a half times the drink drive limit of alcohol in his body. While unconscious, his friends used marker pens to write and draw on his body, some of them images of a sexual nature. Later that night the man died of severe alcohol poisoning.
Coroner Alan Crickmore criticised the pub for allowing the man to get drunk. He said: “He was allowed to consume so much alcohol while he was in the pub that he drunk himself into a stupor. It is of course unlawful for a licensee to allow his premises to be used for the supply of intoxicating liquor to people who are already drunk and I have no doubt whatever that this is what happened on this afternoon.
The licensee of the Seymour said: He wasn’t silly drunk when he was here. If that was the case, the police would have taken action against us. Nobody served him drink that would have killed him.” The coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death.
The Citizen, Monday 5th November 2007 – Her 30 years as one of the lads: Popular barmaid Sandra Eamer is celebrating 30 years behind taps at a Gloucester pub. The 65-year-old has spent more than half her life working in bars – including three decades at The Seymour Inn, Linden.
The Citizen, 3rd September 2007 – Pub landlord was stabbed. Girlfriend speaks of her horror: The shocked partner of a pub landlord stabbed during a suspected robbery has spoken of her horror after finding him lying him lying wounded on the ground. Mark Ballantyne, 52, was stabbed in the stomach at The Seymour pub in Seymour Road on Wednesday. He was on his on his way to deposit the pub’s weekly £7,000 takings at the post office when he was attacked.
His partner Jackie Strawbridge, 53, said: “It’s been a nightmare. I can’t believe it, it’s like living in a bad room.” Jackie was decorating upstairs when the barmaid shouted to her. She said, “ring the ambulance, Mark has been stabbed.”
“I went outside and saw him lying on the ground, shaking. I thought he was going to die. There was a lot of blood. We managed to hail a passing police car. Shortly afterwards four police cars turned up and then an ambulance.” Mr Ballantyne was rushed to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital where he underwent surgery. Jackie spent spent seven hours by his bedside. She said: “Doctors were worried the knife might have cut into his internal organs. His condition is stable but he will be in hospital for at least a week.”
Seven men were arrested in Wiltshire in connection with the incident, four in Swindon and three in Melksham on Wednesday.
The Citizen – Poole cue beating is alleged: A 45-year-old man allegedly beat his victim unconscious with a pool cue. The man from St Pauls Road is also alleged to have stamped on his victim’s head on January 28th at the Seymour Hotel, a court heard. Magistrates adjourned the case until October 14th 2008 for the committal papers to be prepared for trail at Gloucester Crown Court.
The Citizen , 6th April 2010. Pub with a long history is up for sale: The Seymour, at one time known as the Seymour Hotel, is on the market through agents Christie & Co. An attractive two-storey period property, the Seymour is in need of some internal refurbishment and comprises two front and two side entrances into the ground floor trading areas, consisting of the main front bar, which is divided into two sections with seating for about 40 persons along with a pool/games room with a door to the outside entrance.
There is a ground floor cellar and large storeroom, with the owner’s accommodation located on the first floor and consisting of three bedrooms, a lounge, office, kitchen and bathroom. Outside is a double-gated access into a driveway / hardstanding with parking for several cars.
The property is not listed and is not located in a conservation area, so the agents understand from the planning department that there may be potential to develop the site subject to normal conditions.
The Citizen, 5th August 2010 – Scarred for life after a pub punch: A pub customer who scarred a man for life in an unprovoked attack is facing jail. The man, 28, of Tredworth, punched his victim in the face in the Seymour pub – leaving him with a mouth full of glass and blood. He was taken to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital with a deeply cut mouth which needed stiches.
Prosecuting solicitor Louise Pinder said: “The victim lives above the pub in Seymour Road and he was in the pool area at 7.30pm on April 30th when the defendant approached him and said ‘You’re stood in my place’. The victim moved away and turned to continue drinking when he felt a severe pain in his face. There was blood and glass in his mouth. The district judge said that the defendant had struck a “forceful blow” which was unprovoked.
The Citizen, 26th May 2010 – Police used stun gun to disarm knifeman outside pub: A police officer armed with a Taser stun-gun stepped in to prevent trouble as a man holding a kitchen knife approached two other men outside a Gloucester pub, a court heard. The man, aged 47, was “walking in an aggressive manner” towards the Seymour pub on November, 2009. Police had him under observation after a telephone call from the pub alerted them he was walking around with a knife or meat cleaver.
The Citizen, 1st December 2010: Vandals target ‘eyesore’ pub: Vandals have targeted an empty Linden pub. the Seymour, on the junction with Seymour Road and Linden Road, has been empty and for sale since April this year. But recently vandals have targeted the benches outside the building, breaking the wood and severely damaging them.
The Citizen, 8th March 2011 – Pub to close for good as buyer plans homes: The Seymour public house in Seymour Road, Gloucester, which was on the market for £195,000, has been sold for an undisclosed sum. It has been bought by Gloucester businessman Mr Chance Malone, who plans to develop the site as homes.
The corner, two-storey period building has three-bedroom owner’s accommodation, a driveway with off-street parking and a large detached garage and workshop. The sale was handled by Christie & Co, who said it attracted a number of offers from local developers and pub operators, as well as first time buyers. However, it eventually went to Mr Malone, a cash buyer who exchanged contracts within two weeks.
The Citizen, 3rd June 2011. Letters to the editor – We need a bit of recreation: How sad I was to hear of the closure of our local pub, The Seymour Hotel, which may be turned into flats. But why flats? Surely the residents of Linden need something in the way of recreation. Linden has become a forgotten area with nothing for anyone to do whatever age group.
Mrs Elizabeth Smith, Linden.
The Citizen, 15th July 2011 – From pub to five flats? The Seymour Hotel in Linden is a step closer being converted to flats. Gloucester City Council has granted planning permission to convert and extend the pub into five homes.
The Citizen, 21st September 2012 – Five flats up for sale at old hotel: After months hiding behind scaffolding, a former pub as reappeared into flats. The conversion of the Seymour Hotel is almost complete and for sale signs put up. Lyn Ackroyd, of the Linden Residents Association said: “Residents are relieved the work has finally finished after many months of disruption along the road and scaffolding. The building had been closed for more than a year before it was sold and then it took time for planning permission to come through.”
“It was a shabby pub before and looked quite run down so it is nice to see that it has been renovated. It’s no secret we wanted the building to be turned into a community centre but at least they have done something nice with it,”, she said.
The Citizen, 7th June 2013 – No takers for homes in former pub conversion: Not a single flat in a housing development at a former Linden pub has been sold, months after going on the market. The former Seymour pub in Seymour Road was bought out by businessman Chance Malone in 2011. Since then the watering hole has been turned into two-bedroom houses and maisonettes.
However the properties, on the market with estate agents Property Centre and Michael Tuck since January, are still up for grabs. Edward Clarke of the Property Centre, said: “We have had interest in the properties but nothing has been sold yet. They are a modern construction but it has no garden which has probably put people off.”
Licensing Details:
Owner in 1927: Godsells & Sons, Salmon Springs, Stroud
Owner in 2005: Peregrine Pub Company
Landlords at the Seymour Hotel include:
1893 C.J. Ramstedt
1902 Adolf Ramstedt
1906, 1939 Charles John Ramstedt
1957 Albert A. Smith
1973 Peter Askew
1981-1985 – Joe and Barbara Trigg (moved to Musket Inn)
1983 Rob and Paula Rylatt (managers)
1997 David Harvey
2005,2007 Mark Ballantyne and Jackie Strawbridge
2008 Ian Coote
