The Swan Inn

The Swan Inn is believed to have been built in c.1840 from an old bakehouse, previously home to George Hambidge and his brothers. The first landlord was almost certainly Thomas Lediard, but he was declared bankrupt shortly after opening. 

In 1843 the inn was sold for £445 to Thomas Byrch Esq. of Cirencester. At this time there were two inns in the village: The Greyhound, first licenced in 1755, and The Swan. The Greyhound Inn did not survive long after the opening of The Swan and had closed by the early 1890s, becoming Keble and Wadham Cottages. The Greyhound probably brewed its own beer, however, The Swan did not. The 1840s saw a general move away from pub-brewing across the whole country, therefore, this could have been the catalyst for the opening of The Swan and eventual closure of The Greyhound. 

At the sale in 1843 The Swan was described as a ‘house called The Swan Inn with brewhouse, stable, garden and yard’. Other records suggest that there was also a smoke room, tap room, kitchen scullery, dairy, larder, beer cellar, four bedrooms, two attics, coach house, coal cellar, pigsty and sanitary offices. The water supply was pumped from a well in the scullery. 

Following the bankruptcy of Thomas Lediard, Anthony Newman Price of Price’s Barn, who farmed land around Southrop from Stanford House in the 1830s, succeeded him as landlord in 1844. 

Next, William Rawlins was the landlord of The Swan from 1846 until 1862. He and his wife Ann had two children living with them in 1851: John aged 4 and William aged 2. They also had three cordwainers (shoemakers) lodging with them as well as a servant, Elizabeth Cull, who was only twelve at the time. Baptism records suggest that William and Ann also had a daughter Clara in 1854, and a son George in 1857. Confusingly, the 1861 census makes no reference to Ann, John, William, Clara or George but instead shows William to have a new wife, Elizabeth, and two sons: Walter aged 14 and Edward aged 3. 

Charles Wyatt succeeded William Rawlins in 1862 for ten years. Charles was likely widowed by 1871 leaving him with three children: Eliza aged 6, Rachel aged 4 and John aged 3. Charles employed Mary Banbury as a housekeeper to help keep the house and children in order whilst he ran the pub. William Newport also lived in The Swan at this time and was employed as a stable boy. 

By the 1870s The Swan Inn was owned by Messrs. Cripps & Co., brewers of Cirencester with an alehouse licence, thus ending its time as a Free House. By 1892 it had been sold to the Cirencester Brewing Co. which was later acquired by H.G. Simmonds, who eventually merged with Courage & Barclay in 1960. The pub was owned by Courage & Barclay for twenty years until Patrick and Sandra Keen bought it in 1980. 

During this time of brewery ownership, there was a long string of tenant landlords. William Pinnell was likely the first landlord under Messrs. Cripps & Co.; he was notably also a farmer in Southrop. George Jones succeeded him from 1875 until 1877 when George Charles Tanner took over for the next 27 years. 

George Charles Tanner married Ellen Jane Pinnock in 1869. They had ten children: Georgina (b.1870), Ann Mary (b.1871), William (b.1875), Algernon (b.1876), Catherine (b.1878), Augusta (b.1880), Raymond (b.1882), Florence Ellen (b.1885), Claudia Beatrice (b.1889) and Harry Charles (b.1893). It is not clear whether all ten children survived infancy, but most of them grew up in The Swan although never all at the same time. George Tanner paid £10 annual rent for the first seven years of tenancy, which was then increased to £18 for the following 13 years. The Tanners also had lodgers living at The Swan: Thomas Selwood, an agricultural labourer; James Painter, a Stone dresser; Albert Empson, a baker; and Robert Ward and Henry Witeing. 

George Tanner was also a baker, this was common because only brewers and publicans had their own yeast source for making bread. In addition, Tanner was a carrier, making a trip to Cirencester every Monday to collect supplies for the village and beer for the pub from the brewery. 

George Newman was another long-standing tenant landlord of The Swan. George married Emma Spiers in Lechlade in 1904 and they took over The Swan the same year. They had two sons: Alfred (b.1904) and Albert (b.1906) who, once they were old enough, helped their father run the pub until 1953. Emma’s brother, Alfred, also lived at The Swan for many years, he was an assistant in the business. Other residents included Florrie Stevens, who lived with the Newmans for about ten years as the boys’ nanny, and Edward Bishop who was a boarder at The Swan and worked with George Newman as a carpenter. At the time, the pub had a carpentry shop at the back where the stables used to be, a room which later became the skittle alley. 

Sadly, in 1909 Emma’s mother and eldest sister died suddenly and so her father, Alfred Spiers who ran The Crown in Lechlade for many years, retired to live with the Newmans at The Swan. Mr Spiers lived at The Swan for 19 years until his death in 1928, aged 84. 

George Newman was an important villager and a busy man. Not only was he a landlord and carpenter, but he was also an undertaker, a carrier and he provided the village’s early refuse collection service. He was also known to help fix holes in the road with his horse and cart. 

George Newman was contracted by the council to collect the village’s rubbish on a monthly basis. The rubbish was tipped in to a quarry on the Fairford road until it was overrun with rats in 1947. 

Mr and Mrs Norman Masters were then landlord and landlady for nine years from 1967.

Peter and Suzie Kelly succeeded the Masters when they moved in with their children, Ryan and Lara in 1976. They were followed by Leo Towers and his wife in 1979 for about nine months. Mr Towers was the last tenant landlord of The Swan. 

As previously mentioned, the pub was sold to Patrick and Sandra Keen in 1980 by Courage. Patrick and Sandra owned The Swan for 20 years, during which time it developed a reputation for great food served in the restaurant, whilst maintaining the atmosphere of a popular local drinking pub in the bar and skittle alley. 

To mark their farewell from The Swan the couple held a champagne breakfast on New Year’s Day 2000, as well as a party a few days earlier for 70 regulars. The pub was sold for about £335,000 to Hugh Williams, who previously ran the Five Alls in Filkins, and Peter Gray.