History of the Five Mile House Pub near Cirencester, Gloucestershire

The Five Mile House
Gloucester Road (A417)
Duntisbourne Abbots
Near Cirencester
Gloucetershire
GL7 7JR

01285 821432

The File Mile House's History

A 300 year coaching inn set high on the Cotswolds on a quiet country lane that was once Ermine Street, the main Roman road from London to Wales. Local people sold food and shod animals for the passing trade. Later as a coaching Inn travellers stopped at The Five Mile House to refresh their horses or to take shelter for the night or when bad weather made the road impassable.

Our History

The Five Mile House has been owned for most of the last 100 years by the same family until bought by the present owners Jon and Jo Carrier, a father and son partnership. Jon can usually be found in the Bar ensuring the beer is in good condition, whilst Chef Proprietor Jo and his team run the Kitchen and Restaurant, offering you fresh, quality home made food in a friendly atmosphere.

The Five Mile House is a traditional family-run pub that has hardly been touched by the Twentieth Century. The interior has changed little over the centuries with bare wood floors, open fires and wooding seating. The small Bar leads though to the Tap Room with it’s high-backed settles and stove. The Snug is down a few steps, and below again is comfortable Cellar Bar. A Georgian extension is now very comfortable Dining Room with a blazing log fire in the winter.

The Highwayman Robbery

In March 1824 Mr William Matthews of Cotswold Farm next to the Inn was held up on his home by three highwaymen. They robbed him of a “ONE POUND NOTE of the Stroud Bank and Thirty Shillings in silver”. £20 reward was offered for their capture.

The Ruck family kept the Five Mile for 65 years until landlady Ivy Ruck died in 1995 Ivy’s photograph is kept hanging in the Bar she presided over.

The present owners, Jo Carrier and his father Jon, have carried out major essential repairs to the building without altering the appearance of the Bar and Tap Room. The Snug has been made out of Ivy’s sitting room, and ancient fireplace has been preserved.

300 years ago all pubs were unique in character, and it is because The Five Mile House has never fallen into the hands of a brewery that it’s been preserved. Today you see it much as it was seen by travellers on this road all those years ago.

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