The Red Lion Public House

The Red Lion Public House

A public house and house dating from the 18th century with attached outbuildings and a 20th century extension to the east, located in Ampney St Peter.

The building is constructed from coursed stone rubble with dressed limestone quoins and window surrounds, beneath a Cotswold stone slate roof. The 20th century extension is built in reconstructed stone with a Cotswold stone slate roof.

The main range and extension follow a double depth plan, with attached single depth outbuildings to the east and west.

The main range is two storeys and three bays, with a symmetrical front elevation and a central doorway. The gabled entrance porch appears to date from the 19th century and features a Tudor arched opening with integral wooden bench seating. A wide doorway houses a 19th century part glazed door, flanked by two-light side hung timber casement windows on both ground and first floors. To the east stands a double depth, two storey 20th century extension. To the west is an attached outbuilding with three single plank doors, now housing lavatories.

The interior reveals the building's historic function. The public rooms occupy the front of the house on either side of the entrance hall. The hallway features tongue and groove panelling to full height and a sliding hatch to the tap room; at the rear it provides access to the kitchen and cellar. The floor is hardwood parquet with four-panel and plank doors throughout.

The tap room is sparsely appointed with a stone corner fireplace dating perhaps from the late 19th or early 20th century. Walls are panelled with tongue and groove to dado height. The left wall holds glassware shelves, one shaped to accommodate a ceramic gin barrel. Beer is dispensed from two beer engines affixed to the rear wall, with barrel storage in the cellar below, accessed by a short stone flight of steps from the hallway. The room has a red terracotta tiled floor, timber lined window seat, and panelled shutters.

The room to the left of the hallway was formerly the family kitchen. It retains tongue and groove panelling to dado height and fixed bench seating on two sides, a 19th century timber fire surround, and a window seat and shutters matching those in the tap room.

The Red Lion appears from stylistic evidence to date from the 18th century, believed by the present owner to have been built in part as a beer house. It was certainly in use as a beer house by 1792, when the Red Lion, together with six cottages and adjacent land, was sold for £1,200. By 1851, John Howse owned the property; upon his death that year his assets were auctioned, including "that old established public house", the Red Lion. It sold for 600 guineas to John and Edwin Cook, owners of the Tetbury Brewery. The Post Office Directory of 1856 records John Spencer as publican. In 1887, James Wilkins became landlord, remaining in post until his death in 1939 — an impressive tenure of 52 years during which he raised his family at the pub. His son, Horace Wilkins, who had been born at the Red Lion, succeeded him and remained landlord until 1975, when the current owner purchased the property.

The pub was tied to the Tetbury Brewery from its purchase in 1851 until 1913, when it was taken over by the nearby Stroud Brewery. In the 1970s, Stroud Brewery amalgamated with other local breweries to form West Country Breweries, subsequently taken over by Whitbread, one of the dominant national breweries. Despite these commercial changes, few alterations were made to the building. The mid-20th century extension provided enlarged living accommodation, and lavatories were created in the adjoining outbuilding, accessed only from outside the main building. The Red Lion remains in use as a public house.

The Red Lion is of special interest as an intact and very rare example of the earliest phase of public house evolution, having remained in continuous use as a public house since the 18th century. Research by CAMRA has identified it as one of only fourteen public houses nationally that has not incorporated a bar counter and other later alterations and embellishments. The plainness and simplicity of its little-altered interior, retention of its early plan form, and modest and largely domestic fixtures are of clear special interest in the national context.