There is a reference to the Welsh Harp as far back as 1744 when it was described as being at the location known as ‘Without the Lower Northgate’.
Gloucestershire Chronicle. Saturday February 26th 1870. Welsh Harp Inn, London Road, Gloucester. Messrs Townshend & Co have received instructions to sell by auction (without reserve), on Tuesday March 22nd 1870 at eleven o’clock precisely,- the whole of the very good, useful, well made and almost new household furniture, stock in trade, brewing plant, malt mill etc. Catalogues to be obtained at the auctioneers office the day previous to the sale.
The facade of the Welsh Harp has been substantially altered over the years. A photograph of the pub taken in the 1920’s when Grantley Brain was the landlord shows it to be rendered with a brick pattern etched into the plasterwork. At ground level there are possibly two bay windows. The name the ‘Welsh Harp’ is painted on the building above the upper floor windows in highlighted lettering. The modern frontage of the pub has no bay windows. The Welsh Harp was a tied house of Francis Wintle, Forest Brewery, Mitcheldean. In 1963 the Welsh Harp was selling beer from Georges’ Bristol Brewery. It later became a Courage pub.
The Citizen. Advertisement Feature – Wednesday, July 19th, 1989 – It’s better than ever: The Welsh Harp, a traditional, homely-looking pub m London Rod, Gloucester, is a bit like Doctor Who’s Tardis. Not, we hasten to add, because it will fly away at the touch if a button, but because it’s a lot more spacious inside than it looks from the street. And this is just as well, because, in recent years, The Welsh Harp has become a very popular hostelry, to the point where something needed to be done to increase elbow room!
Happily, an extensive programme of refurbishment and enlargement has just been completed, to the satisfaction of all concerned, but especially the licensee, Tim Shearman, the landlady Jill White, and manager James Evans. “We have replaced the old games room with a really large and comfortable lounge, in which our customers will be able to enjoy the added facilities we can now offer them,” said Tim. “In particular, we hope the new improved lay-out will encourage them to make use of the large garden at the back, which is not only is floodlit at night but has a piped music system to provide a continental feel. You can’t actually see our garden from London Road, with the result that a lot of people who might otherwise use it don’t know it’s there.” If the long, hot summer keeps up it could be that the garden, attractively tended and landscaped, will be the pub’s most popular feature.
A Courage tenancy, The Welsh Harp begins its new life at 7pm on Thursday July 20th. The first pint will be pulled by the Mayor of Gloucester, Councillor Eric Ede, accompanied by Doug Norfolk, Courage’s senior tenanted sales director for the South West. On the evening of Friday July 21st, there will be live music with the popular duo ‘Perfect Cure’, and also on the following Thursdays featuring ‘Heaven Knows’, ‘Masquerade’, and Hi-Tek’ respectively.
Renowned for the impressive range of lagers on offer – Fosters, Hofmeister, MillerLite and Kronenbourg – The Welsh Harp now offers a fifth, a particularly refreshing draught low-alcohol lager, brand new to this region, called Carlton. The pub is also expanding its range of beers with an especially tasty-thirst quencher, John Smith’s Yorkshire Bitter. Real ale drinkers haven’t been forgotten either. They have a choice between the award-winning Directors and Courage Best. All this, of course, on top of the marvellous selection of wines, spirits, low-alcohol; and soft drinks which The Welsh Harp offers its customers.
Any pub worth its salt these days has to think about food, and here the Welsh Harp is on to a winner! Jill is also looking after the catering side, working from the ‘Queen’s Kitchen’, and, under her direction, the mouth-watering selection of home-made bar snacks and meals will be available at lunch times. In addition to this wide-ranging set menu, there will also be ‘specials of the day’ and Jill promises something a little different from the ‘pie and chips’ fare so often encountered in pub food.
Although the old games room has gone, it will still be possible to play pool and pinball in the magnificent new lounge area, which also boasts a very high-quality compact disc system allowing well over 600 selections.
The Welsh Harp’s impressive extension has been made possible by an input of £50,000 from the brewers, and a lot of hard work, much of it manual, on the part of Barry Hurley, managing director of Places Trading Ltd, and Alan Dee, director in charge of development, Places Trading Ltd.
Tim, Jill and James look forward to offering a warm welcome to customers old and new.
The Welsh Harp evolved into a popular music venue. Neville Staples (former lead singer of The Specials), Bad Manners, The Beat and Chas & Dave all performed there in 2005.
After trading as the Welsh Harp for over 250 years the pub had a change of name in 2007 to ‘No 36’.
The change of identity to 36 did not last long. The building has been converted into a Tesco Express.
This page will be updated with additional information.
Landlords:
1780 Benjamin Mutlow
1818 John Long
1830 Samuel Davis
1839 John Broad
1839 Thomas Gardner (of Longford)
1856,1859 James Tanner
1870 Edward Poole
1870 Henry Randall
1872 William Long
1879 R. Randall
1885 William Ryland
1893 C.J. Burmingham
1902,1906 Charles Thomas Burmingham
1919,1927 Grantley Brain
1936,1957 Godfrey Hy. Moffatt
1950’s Mrs Moffatt
1985 Louise and Paul Lisseman (managers)
1992,1999 – Tim and Jill Shearman
2005 Paul Dewick
2007 Nathan Summer (as no.36)
