Numbered 272 High Street in 1878 and 274A in 1939. The Shakespeare, on the western side of Grove Street, was probably originally tied to the Carlton Brewery of Cheltenham before its acquisition by Charles Garton, brewers of Bristol. (If my memory has not failed me I am sure that a Garton’s Ales advertisement could still be seen at the entrance to the Shakespeare as late as 1979).
Charles Garton & Co of Lawrence Hill in Bristol were the owners of the Shakespeare Inn in 1891. When Garton’s were taken over by Anglo-Bavarian Brewery of Shepton Mallet in 1899 all their Cheltenham pubs were transferred to the new owners. It must have been a logical challenge bringing the beer up from Somerset to Gloucestershire, but the Anglo-Bavarian brewery will have almost certainly used the Somerset & Dorset and Midland Railway to take their beers north. The annual rateable value of the Shakespeare Inn remained at the same level of £59.10s.0d. from 1891 to 1903 and the pub was licensed as an ale house.
Charles Garton was then taken over by the Anglo-Bavarian Brewery of Shepton Mallet, Somerset.
The Shakespeare Inn had a long association with West Country and Whitbread breweries based in Cheltenham. In March 2003 a mural dedicated to Irish racehorse Istabraq was unveiled at the pub. Painted by Rob Rosson, the mural is 6ft by 5ft and celebrates a racing legend. The pub was refurbished and extended in 2007 and now trades as the Shamrock.
Landlords at the Shakespeare Inn include:
1830,1844 John Taylor
1856 J. Gouldar
1859,1870 John Clayton
1878 John Norton
1878 Benjamin Land
1883 Mrs Evans
1885,1891 Thomas Davis
1902,1906 Arthur Wethers Cooke
1919,1927 Thomas Woodward
1929 Norman Parker
1939 Arthur Griffiths
1993- 2005 Stephen Cremlin
