The Tankard and Castle was the first public house to be built by West Country Breweries in the late 1950’s. Its name was significant as it represented the Tankard emblem of Stroud Brewery and the Castle emblem of the Cheltenham Brewery. This little bit of history seemed to matter little to Whitbread who changed the name to the Goat and Bicycle in 1988.
Cheltenham News, Thursday 7th July 1988: Whitbread Flowers will be focusing the spotlight on the Tankard and Castle, Hesters Way, this week which is being renamed the Goat and Bicycle. An official ceremony will be held this week – special guests will include a goat and a bicycle! Licensees Bob and Cynthia Davenport, who took over the pub a year ago, say the name will reinforce the pubs new image. The new name is believed to come from the BBC Radio comedy series ITMA with Tommy Handley back in the 1940’s.
The pub had a dubious reputation – one of the bar staff decided to call ‘last orders’ one evening by blasting a hole in the ceiling with a sawn off shotgun.
In an attempt to give the pub a new lease of life, a competition was held to think of a new name for the troublesome pub. The competition was won by David O’Neil, who thought of the name Winners No 1. After a refurbishment in July 1997 it operated under that name until closure.
It has now been demolished.
