More than a familiar sign
Coleford's New Inn is recorded by name by about 1800, although that is not evidence of when its oldest walls were built. For a small village, the inn's history brings together travellers, farming families and changing ownership over several generations.
Families behind the bar
Thomas Peters and his wife Anna Maria, previously associated with the Ship Inn, are placed at the New Inn from about 1854. Following Thomas's death in 1875, Anna Maria continued to run it.
Their daughter Emmeline married builder William Lee in 1892. Their youngest child, Mabel Lee, was born at the New Inn in 1901. When William died in 1905, the family continued the business. Emmeline bought the premises during the 1919 Colebrooke estate sale; after her death in 1939, Mabel ran the inn until 1959.
A place remembered
Mabel's long association with the inn is remembered alongside village occasions and local characters — including Captain, a male parrot known in Coleford recollections.
Each change of landlord and owner helps tell the New Inn's story, but the fuller picture comes from tracing the people, tenancies and neighbouring premises through the original parish research.
Sources and historical notes
This introduction draws on original Colebrooke parish research and the records identified below. Where a detail depends on local recollection or later reconstruction, the text says so. These references allow readers to examine the evidence behind this introduction. Fuller accounts are available in the parish histories.