Citizen: Wednesday 21st 1973 – The Nailsworth Night club run by champion motorcyclist Bryan Wade should close at 12.30 am instead of 1 a.m, the UDC Highways, Plans and Playing Fields Committee recommended last night. In a bid to curb nuisances created by people leaving the club during the early hours, the committee is to ask local Licensing Justices to reduce the time the club is open by half-an-hour.
In May 1974 Bryan Wade was running the Claypits Garage on the A38. A former 125cc,250cc,500cc British Motocross Champion.
Advert: The Citizen Saturday June 15th 1985: The Village Inn, Nailsworth. Open every lunchtime and evening with good pub food and beers. Live Jazz every Sunday lunchtime.
Notice. The Citizen. Bryan Wade Motor Company. Closing Down. ‘Dear Customer. I am moving to the USA so I have arranged for all Warranty Claims and Servicing to be carried out at Claypits Garage, as normal. This will take effect as from 30th November 1985.’
The Village Inn opened on December 2006 in the premises that had once been a nightclub in the 1970’s/1980’s called the Wade Inn. The building, which later became the New Technology House, had been empty for a number of years and it was in a sorry state.
Oisin Hawes had previously run the Cross Inn, which was directly opposite the Village Inn. In October 2004 Oisin told an extraordinary meeting of the town council about his plans to reopen the Village Inn: “I’ve noticed a need for a public house in Nailsworth; one which would be attractive to a broad band of people in the town. My plan is to restore it to how it looked about 100 years ago.” The council voted to oppose the application on the grounds of the location being unsuitable. This was ironic as only a few years earlier the same town council had objected to the closure of the Cross Inn across the road!
The licence for the Village Inn was granted at Stroud Magistrates Court early in December 2004. Nailsworth town mayor told the local press: “I think it’s shameful. I feel that people from outside our town have made decisions that are going to have an impact on all our lives.”
The interior was designed by internationally renowned pub designer, Angela Murphey. Wooden panelling, oak flooring and dividing snob screens give the Village Inn a timeless feel. Any casual visitor to the Village Inn would find it difficult to believe that it is a new pub!
Oisin Hawes and Jon Kemp also set up a microbrewery in the cellar of the Village Inn. Jon, an experienced brewer, was keen to bring back brewing in the town and resurrected the name Nailsworth Brewery. This was at a time when Greg Pilley, just a few miles away in the village of Thrupp, had brought back to life the name of the Stroud Brewery. Who would have thought that beer drinkers would be able to sup beers from the Nailsworth Brewery and Stroud Brewery again?
The regular beers at the ‘new’ Nailsworth Brewery were Artists Ale (3.9% ABV), Town Crier (4.7%ABV) and the aptly named The Mayors Bitter (4.2% ABV). Jon also brewed a beer called Old Rocky which was named by Gloucestershire CAMRA as their Beer of the Year in 2009. Rocky was a regular of the Village Inn, and a well known local character, who would offer to clear up empty glasses and assist with with odd jobs in exchange for the odd pint or two.
Although Jon has now left the Village Inn and has since set up his own Artesian Ales in Minchinhampton, small-scale brewing continues at the pub although the direct links with the old Nailsworth Brewery have been lost and has been renamed, by new owners Paul Sugden and Adam Pavey, Keep Brewing.
Map Reference: ST 850994
This page will be updated with additional information.
Landlord:
2006,2009 Oisin Hawes (manager Chris Hemming)
