The address of the Wheatsheaf Inn is given as 28 Littleworth in an 1856 reference. In the 1906 Kellys Directory the Wheatsheaf Inn was at 94 Southgate Street. By 1927 the address had changed to 109 Southgate Street. The inn was built in the early 1800’s and was a number of inns within a distance of some 100 yards from the entrance to Gloucester Docks. It was located between Llanthony Road and Little Norfolk Street.
Citizen: December 18th 1880: Alfred Adams, a respectably dressed young man, was charged with refusing to quit the Wheatsheaf Inn, Littleworth, when requested to do so. He acknowledged being on the premises but said he was not drunk. It appeared that the defendant, with two or three other men, had gone into the Wheatsheaf and had forcibly tried to enter a room when the landlady refused to admit them. They also tried to throw the landlord downstairs and refused to leave when ordered to. Defendant was fined 5 shillings and costs
The ‘Citizen’ reported on 6th March 1928 that the Wheatsheaf Inn was ‘situate between Spa Road and the Albion Hotel and was very dark inside.’ The landlord in 1927 was Dave Holland who was a great Gloucester rugby forward who went on to play for England in Australasia. Between the door and the front window was a carved emblem of a wheat sheaf. ‘The Wheatsheaf Inn closed down many years ago. It was a tied house of Godsell’s & Sons of Stroud. The Smart’s Gloucester Directory of 1930 lists 109 Southgate Street as ‘void’.
In more recent times the building was a chemist and, more recently, Samsons Shopkeepers Supplies (as referred to in the 1974 Gloucester Street Directory). This business closed down in 1996 and the building was left vacant. When it was found that the front and back walls had become detached from the sides of the property the building had to be propped up by scaffolding. Gloucester City Council issued a Dangerous Building notice on the property. It was found that the Georgian building was beyond economic repair and structural damage so bad that demolition was the preferred option. English Heritage supported the decision. Planning permission had been granted for a wine bar with offices above as long ago as October 1990. However, the old Wheatsheaf Inn was allow to decay further prompting an angry response from a local resident who wrote: “in my view, the businesses along this stretch of Southgate Street have good reason for their deep dissatisfaction over the continued existence of this eyesore in the midst of their trading area.” Proposed plans to build 12 new flats on the site was delayed as, unbelievably, planning conditions stated that the building could not be demolished unless the construction of the new development started immediately. The building was eventually demolished in April 2006.
Landlords at the Wheatsheaf Inn include:
1856,1859 Mrs Jane Chesterton
1879,1885 Henry Smith
1893 R. Estcourt
1902,1906 Daniel Minahan
1907 R. Estcourt
1919 Henry Read
1927 David Holland
