The Globe Inn is on the B4332 half a mile from the A4136 on the right-hand side of the road. It is situated midway between Berry Hill and Shortstanding.
A reference in an old directory gives the location as Farmer’s Folly Colliery, Shortstanding.
In the 1891 and 1903 licensing books the Globe is described as a beer house and had an annual rateable value of £13.0s.0d. It closed at 10pm. In 1891 it was operating free of brewery tie and was owned by J.D. Loxley and in residence as landlord was Albert Hughes. Lloyd & Yorath, whose Cambrian Brewery was based in Newport (Monmouthshire), had acquired the Globe Inn by 1903. Thomas Gwilliam, who was also a miner, had the honour of serving their beers – rare for the area. (he was also at the Globe in 1906). Thomas was a keen sportsman and he set up Berry Hill rugby club which was based at the Globe.
For at least twenty years Arnold Martin kept the Globe (listed in 1919 and 1939 trade directories).
The acclaimed but often controversial playwright Denis Potter was born in Berry Hill in 1935. In his book ‘The Changing Forest’, which was first published in 1962, he described the changing seasons in the Forest of Dean with reference to his local pub: ‘At the Globe, my favourite pub, the fireplace was piled high with huge, blazing lumps of local coal, and the early arrivals were smacking their hands over it, talking in low, cold voices. Some of them had come through the lanes or across ‘the meand’, or even through the wood, now a huge soft cathedral of cold. The Forest is beautiful at this time in a different, more aloof fashion than when green with summer, and the feel of the place becomes more immediately apparent. I suppose one feels a return to the sense of isolation and severely separated villages, that, too, there is something unbearably evocative about the stamping of feet outside the blazing windows and the bustle of coats, hats, greetings which follows.’
The following article is from the ‘Forester’ newspaper dated 17th September 1965:
‘Mr Len Hughes looks round the unchanging Globe’ – On Sunday morning last, a very upright man of 73, walked into the Globe Inn, Berry Hill and announced that he was born at the Inn, and had travelled from Port Talbot, South Wales, intent on seeing his old home. He was Mr Len Hughes, who was accompanied by his wife, his son and his daughter-in-law. He is a son of the late Mr and Mrs Albert Hughes, who lived at the Globe, where the late Mr Hughes ran a grocer’s and butcher’s business in what is now the club room. He also brewed his own beer which was sold at 2d.per pint. The late Mr Albert Hughes was a member of a well-known family of small pit owners and farmers, his brother being the late Mr Edward Hughes of English Bicknor. Another man who lived at the Inn over 50 years ago is a frequent customer – Mr Sydney Gwilliam, who lives in retirement near the Inn. When Mr Albert Hughes kept the inn it was a free house, and when he left it was sold to Lloyds of Newport, later becoming Yorath. The Globe remains one of the few public houses in the Forest of Dean which have not altered in any major way, although it is understood that alterations are to be carried out soon. Since Rugby started in Berry Hill it has been the headquarters of the club, and until 1928, when changing quarters were built on the new ground, players changed at the inn, having a wash in an outhouse and then doubtless they chatted to customers, who were interested to hear about the history of ‘the pub that doesn’t change’.
In December 1986 the ‘new look’ Globe was opened. It had been bought from Ansells Brewery in October by Phil Smith and John Berry of Newland Estates, Coleford, and they decided to completely gut it and expand the previously small interior into two larger bars. The refurbishment was undertaken in just seven weeks and was reopened on Wednesday 17th December. The project involved building a new lounge, snug areas, new toilets, kitchen and children’s room. Workmen worked around the clock to get the Globe completed in time for Christmas. Although the pub was free of tie Ansell’s Cambrian Brewery Company Ltd. still supplied their beer from Birmingham.
Forest of Dean & Ross-on-Wye Pubs. A critical guide by Jon Hurley (booklet, 1991): Last time I went in here it was a lino’d old local with four blokes indolently playing crib in a fog of fag-ends and spilt beer. The transformation is a shock to the system, everything is opened up, bright, white, upholstered and carpeted with gas logs and Everly Brothers tapes. I quizzed the natives (the four blokes were still playing crib). They said it was as good as before. My pal, who hadn’t seen the old pub, which acted, I believe, as a model for all those creepy Dennis Potter ethnic pub ‘scenes’ (he once lived nearby), liked it. I wasn’t offered either a menu or a wine list so if they possess either I plead ignorance. The beer was Ansell’s.
In more recent times Jessie Ellis was landlady from 1994 until she retired in 2009. When Chris Luxton took on the pub in 2013 he realised that the Globe could not survive purely as a drinker’s pub. He said in 2016, ‘when I took over here the Globe would be the last place you would go for food but all that’s changed. We are a pub that sells food rather than a restaurant that sells beer. Definitely not gastro.’ He added, ‘We also like to have real ale from local brewers like Wye Valley and Bespoke on tap. And in summer we get a lot of visitors from the local camp sites and holiday cottages.’ The Globe received a Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence.
Landlords at the Globe Inn include:
1891 Albert Hughes (owned J.D. Loxley)
1903 Thomas Gwilliam
1919,1939 Arnold Martin
1988 Roger and Patricia Cook, and son Dennis
1994-2009 Jessie Ellis
2013 Chris Luxton
