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242 Bath Road

The Brown Jug has been serving the public since at least 1847, when a coroner’s inquest was held on the premises. Walter and Ann Buckle lived here in 1854 and they went on to own this and several other properties in the terrace and around town. In 1855 the landlord was Benjamin Buckle and the the Brown Jug was described as a beer house.

​By 1858 the landlord was Mr Thomas Clarke, who was also a pig dealer. In 1865 Thomas Clarke was granted a fly license, which meant that he could operate a horse-drawn taxi service. A ‘fly’ was a light covered vehicle that could be drawn by a single horse, often let out for hire. Thomas was here until at least 1868.

Annie White (photo Pat Lewis)

One of the longest-serving licensees was Adolphus White, who was already the landlord by 1876. He was born in Cheltenham in 1841, the son of Thomas White, a naturalist and taxidermist. Adolphus married Annie Baylis in 1860 and they lived in Naunton Crescent. They had 12 children but lost 2 in infancy. Like many landlords, Adolphus had another trade from before he was a publican – his was carpentry. He died aged 53 in 1895, after which Annie White continued to run the pub until 1900. She died in 1916.

In 1900 the licence was transferred to Mr Henry Bristowe Harbourn. During his tenancy, in August 1905, William Trapp was summoned for leaving his horse and cart unattended in the road whilst he was having a quick drink. In his defence he claimed that he had watched the horse all of the time from the pub window but he was still fined 5 shillings. Although a minor misdemeanour it was quite risky to leave a horse in case it bolted.

Henry Harbourn died in 1910 at the young age of 54, having been widowed from his wife Emma a year earlier. It must have been a very sad time. Henry and Emma’s eldest daughter Effie Smith, and her husband Ralph, assisted her father in running the Inn and stepped into his shoes on his death.

Ralph Lionel Smith had been born in Cheltenham on 26th October 1880 and was about 30 or 31 years old when he took over the pub. Effie Mary B. Smith, was 27 and had married Ralph in 1905. They later had a son they named Raymund Harbourn Smith, in tribute to Henry Harbourn.

Ralph hadn’t been born to the pub trade. In 1901, at the age of 20 he was a sign writer and painter and in 1903 he was described in the Gloucestershire Echo as a glazier. One of his contracts had been to paint the wooden statue of a Scotsman that stood for many years outside Frederick Wrights’ tobacconist shop in the High Street and which is now on exhibition in Cheltenham Museum.

Ralph and Effie handed over the Brown Jug to William Skarre in 1914, when they moved to 9 Berkeley Place. By 1925 they had moved again to ‘Woodview’ in Witcombe, a few miles south west of Cheltenham. In 1939 Ralph described himself as a “Builder, Decorator and General Contractor”, still living at ‘Woodview’, and it was there that he died in 1956. Effie died in 1962 at the Royal Hospital in Gloucester.

From about 1916 to 1925 the Brown Jug was run by Philip Williams, assisted by his wife Emily Elizabeth. He was followed the next year by William Charles Cook and by 1928 it was Wilfred and Lavinia Godwin.

​By the start of the Second World War the landlord was Reginald Woolridge, who was known as “Ben”, but he died in 1941 and his “temporary” replacement in 1942 was Richard Staite. He was actually the landlord for about 10 years and was succeeded in 1952 by his son Albert. Altogether, the Staites were here until 1963, not so temporary after all. After the war there was a short-lived change in the name of the pub, when it was called “Ye Olde Browne Jugge”, which now sounds terrible but clearly appealed to some people at the time.

The name changed back to the Brown Jug when the Brimfield family took over. Their connection with the pub lasted for over thirty years, first with Bill and Glad Brimfield, and then from 1974 their son Derek and his wife Shirley.

The Brimfields in 1974

In 1983 the younger Brimfields celebrated their silver wedding anniversary at the pub and reduced all drinks to 25p. It was so busy that many of the regulars had to help themselves but they still put their 25p’s in the till!

Queen Mother's 80th Birthday at The Brown Jug

In the final quarter of the 20th century the Brown Jug was the venue for many parties celebrating such events as the Queens Silver Jubilee (1977) and the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer (1981). For the Queen Mother’s 80th Birthday, Derek and Shirley laid on a free full roast dinner for all the pensioners & their partners.

And every New Year’s Eve was so busy, they had to remove all the internal doors because they wouldn’t be able to open them. ​

Running the Brown Jug at the beginning of the 21st century were Peter and Jeanne Harris, who were followed by Matthew Birch in 2006. In about 2014 the name of the pub was changed but in 2019 it was reinstated as The Brown Jug. ​

See our Local Memories page for this property.

The Brown Jug

The Brown Jug

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Researcher: Marilyn West
​Updated: Stuart Manton (Jan 2022)

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