Gloucestershire District
Health & Community
Retired Members Group
Ghost Walk
April 2014
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Cafe Rene. 31 Southgate Street
Although its address is Southgate Street, the Café Rene is actually accessed from St Mary’s lane, alongside St Mary de Crypt church yard.It is in a medieval building and originally most of the pub was an open courtyard, belonging to another pub, the Golden Heart, in the eighteenth century. This goes some way to explain the authentic Roman Well in the bar. This may have been used by the Fransiscan Friars who founded the nearby Greyfriars monastery in 1231. There are extensive cellars underneath the pub, which have many stories attached to them and are said to be haunted. The building became a winebar called The Inner Court in the1970s.The courtyard was covered over and it re-opened as Greyfriars in 1987, becoming the Café Renein 1998.
Robert Raikes’ House 36-38 Southgate Street
Robert Raikes’ House occupies amagnificent timber-framed merchants-house dating from 1560. The pub takes its name from Robert Raikes, founder of the Sunday School movement and one of Gloucester’s most famous sons. He took over ownership of the Gloucester Journal, which was started by his father, and in 1758 he moved it into this building. In 1772 he moved into the building with his family. It reverted to a merchant’s house and shop, becoming the Dirty Duck Restaurant in 1973, then later the Golden Cross pub. It was bought by Samuel Smiths who restored it at a reported cost of £4.5m, and opened as Robert Raikes’ House in November 2008.
The Old Bell 9a Southgate Street
The Old Bell is on the upper floors of a Grade I listed building with a magnificent Jacobean timbered façade. It was built around 1665 for Thomas Yate, apothecary and Mayor of Gloucester. It is believed that it may have been constructed using timber from the Mayflower, the ship used for the Pilgrim Fathers’ voyage to America. These upper floors were leased by the Bell Hotel, which stood next door and was closed in 1967 and demolished to make way for the Eastgate Shopping Centre.The main feature in the small timber-panelled bar is a magnificent fire place commemorating Yates’ first marriage in 1650.
St. Michaels Tower
St. Michael’s Church, The Cross, Eastgate St. St Michael the Archangel church was in existence in the 12th century. The old church, apart from the 15th century tower, was demolished in 1849 and a new church erected which incorporated the old tower. This church closed in 1940 when the parish combined with St. Mary de Crypt. In 1956 the church was demolished, leaving only the tower, and between 1985 and April 1998 it was used as a tourist information centre. A graveyard to the side of the church (behind the buildings in Southgate St.) is shown in a sketch in “An Original History of the City of Gloucester”, by Thomas Dudley Fosbrooke, published in 1819.
The New Inn. Northgate Street
The New Inn in Northgate Street, Gloucester is a bar and hotel. The building dates back to the 14th Century and it was originally built to house pilgrims visiting the shrine of King Edward II at nearby Gloucester Cathedral.
A series of unexplained events have occurred at The New Inn in the space of a week, including the sound of ghostly footsteps and rattling doors. The paranormal activity was eventually captured on CCTV when a Pint of Beer moved across a table and dropped on to the floor.
Lyn Cinderey from the Gloucester Active Paranormal Society (GAPS) was visiting the bar at the time of the 'moving pint' incident, taking part in a pub quiz. "There were several people in the bar, and four people saw this full pint just lift up and fall on the floor. The glass didn't even break we just couldn't believe it. It was right there in the middle of the quiz".
Great British Ghosts
With
Lyn Cinderey & Michaela Strachan
Forest Paranormal Investigations at The New Inn Gloucester Part 1
Forest Paranormal Investigations at The New Inn Gloucester Part 2