Towards the end of Queen Victoria’s reign it would have been possible to visit the Stag Inn at Yorkley and enjoy a few pints of refreshing Tewkesbury brewed ales. The Tewkesbury Brewery Company owned the Stag Inn in 1891. They were acquired by the Arnold Perrett brewery in Wickwar in 1896. The annual rateable value of the Stag Inn was £15.10s.0d. in 1891 and 1903. It had a full ale house licence and closed at 10 pm.
Gloucester Journal 24th January 1903. Prosecution in Dean Forest – a Landlady Convicted: The Coleford Justices had before them on Wednesday the case in which Eliza Smith, landlady of the Stag Inn, Yorkley, was summoned by P.C. Honeybone for selling 6d. worth of brandy to a lad under fourteen years of age. The defendant was ordered to pay 5s.6d. costs. The court heard that ‘the brandy was for a woman who was ill. The bottle was properly sealed and it had not been broken’. Mr Bertham urged that under the circumstances the case not to be registered.
The pub was bought by Albert Brown in the early 1930’s. (Albert was the father of Edwin Brown – see Bailey Inn).
The Stag closed when the landlady, Margaret Brown, took retirement in 1954. The Stag Inn has been a private residence since the 1950’s. The house is named the Old Stag.
Landlords at the Stag Inn include:
1869, 1885 John Hatton
1891 William Willicombe
1897 George Miles
1902 Levi Smith
1903 Eliza Smith
1906 John Halford
1908 Isaac and Edith Herbert (moved to White Horse, Mitcheldean)
1919 William Brain
1926 William Baynham Jnr
1927 Alfred Morgan
1931-1949 Albert Brown (Albert died in 1949)
1949-1954 Margaret Brown (widow)
