Taken over by Luke Honeychurch and his family in April 2020, and renovated during the first Coronavirus Lockdown, the Hog is now a proper village pub, right in the heart of Horsley, Gloucestershire.
As well as serving up fantastic local beers, good honest bar food and great company, we also host fantastic pop-up food nights most weeks as well as hosting live music, quiz nights, darts teams and more.
History of The Hog
Formerly known as The Bell & Castle (and, prior to that, simply as The Bell) The Hog has been long established in Horsley!
This map from 1885 shows it listed (as PH), alongside a number of other pubs within the village.
Click the image to enlarge!
A full size version of this map is on display in The Snug area of the pub! Come take a closer look next time you’re here!
We are very grateful to Adrian Derrick who, whilst carrying out research for a book he is writing, has compiled a history of the pub and has kindly allowed us to use some of that information below.
The earliest found record for the existence of the Bell Inn is around 1841. From the 1841 census Harriott (sic) Lord was recorded as a ‘Beer House’ (no name of the pub). In the 1861 census Harriet Lord was recorded in Horsley Street as a Publican (still no name of the pub). When Harriet Lord died, a short time after the 1861 census, an advert for the Let or Sale of the Bell Inn with Brewery, an adjoining shop and farm land was posted on the 7th September 1861.
In the records, the name of the pub varies between the Bell Inn and the Bell & Castle over time. It is not known exactly when the name change occurred, but an article posted 15th July 1892 clearly refers to the Bell & Castle Inn, Horsley.
The Bell & Castle, as it was known at the time, closed its doors for the last time in 2008. A number of years of dereliction followed, whilst various developers looked into building houses in its place.
The village fought to resist these developments and to retain the pub as an asset for future generations of villagers to enjoy. They succeeded! The site was bought by local development company, Stag Homes, who carried out major structural refurbishment, and in 2013 the pub was reborn under the new name of The Hog.
Between 2013 and the present day, the pub has had a couple of different landlords, each putting their own unique stamp on the premises and its offering.
Our tenancy of the pub started in April 2020, during the first Coronavirus lockdown, and despite the challenges this presented, the pub is back to being a thriving hub of the community!
