2 Haunted Pubs in the Cotswolds, Gloucestershire

The Bull Hotel in Fairford, Gloucestershire is a pretty Grade II listed building, but the Bull had actually been two separate pubs, called The George and The Bull. It was later on that they were joined together to make one property, but the original building of The Bull was originally a Monk’s Chanting House and during the 18th & 19th centuries, it was a coaching inn on the Gloucester to London turnpike road, where it had 30 stables for the coach pulling horses, who would feed & rest in the stables. The George once served as a post office and was also a pub that was for the serving land workers.

Joseph wrote to me about The Bull as he was once the landlord there, back in the 1970’s. The Bull had plenty of regular guests who stayed over and this particular morning, it was a regular guest that Joseph noticed. This guest, who worked as a scientist, just sat at his table but was not eating anything and he was just staring ahead of him. Joseph approached him and asked after his health, thinking perhaps the guest was unwell. The guest went on to explain an experience he had in his room, during the early hours of the morning. He was awoken by sensing a presence and when he opened his eyes, he saw a hooded figure glide across the room at around waist height. This had shocked the guest, and he had been awake since the incident as he had not been able to make sense of it!

It was later on that day that Joseph decided to investigate the room that the guest had seen this figure in. Joseph went up the stairs with his dog, but the dog's hackles rose, and he fled down the stairs. Joseph, with the help of some of the staff, took measurements of where the old front door of the Monk’s Chanting house used to be, as when the building was renovated, the fireplace in the bar area had been raised so the top half of the original front door was in line with the room where the apparition had been seen so that’s why it was only seen from the waist up!

It has been recently reported that a secret tunnel was discovered, leading from The Bull to the medieval church nearby.

Joseph also wrote about the time he was the landlord of The Frogmill Inn, which is in the Cotswolds, Gloucestershire. Like The Bull, it too is a very pretty Grade II listed building and is by the River Coln. It is a 16th century Inn and would receive guests who were travelling from London to Oxford to Gloucester back in the day. Some believe that the building was the mill for the area in the 12th or 13th century and it was also said that the building was once the hunting lodge for the Black Prince aka Edward, Prince of Wales. If this is true, then the building is older than what is thought. There have also been rumours of the Bishops Latimer and Ridley staying at the inn whilst en-route to their execution, where they were to be burnt at the stake for heresy in 1555.

Reports of ghostly occurrences were made by the then landlord, who ran the pub back in the 1950’s and 60’s. It is said that the landlord's wife saw the ghost of her son in the inn at the exact time of his death during WWII. In one of the rooms, visitors to the pub would talk of how they saw dense clouds or mists, come from each corner of the room and meet in the middle. This would sometimes be accompanied by several different whispering voices. One workman, who was working in the local area, was in the pub one evening, having a quiet drink. The landlady took pity on him and offered him a room for the night but omitted to tell him about the mysterious mists and whispering voices experienced by many who had stayed there. The next morning, the workman told the landlady that he had woken up and seen 3 ghostly figures, playing cards, at the table in the room.

Numbers of staff have told of hearing slow and heavy footsteps that have been heard in the rooms where they have stayed, and 2 members of the staff also said they have seen a dark figure walk past the bar area in the early hours of the morning.

Back to what Joseph told me about his experiences. He said that customers would see a card game being played by 3 male ghostly figures. He said that this would be told to him by those visiting the area and who didn’t know of the history. It was always seen in the same room and would happen quite often, so often in fact, that when Joseph would close up at night, he would leave the lights on, just in case!

A figure of a woman, from the waist up was also witnessed. This was in the bar area where the floor had been raised by a few feet. One of the rooms was uncomfortably cold, no matter what the weather and Joseph’s dog would never enter that room.

Another area that the dog wouldn’t enter was the terrace restaurant and this room always felt colder than it should. One of the visitors to the pub complained to Joseph that he had abruptly been pushed on his back but his back had been against the wall and no one else was near him to have done it and gotten away with it.

The Frogmill Inn was renovated in 2018, and one can only wonder if this stirred up even more ghostly activity?