After more than 30 years behind the bar, Nick Beardsley and Christophe Coquoin can lay claim to being the longest-serving publicans in the Stroud area, if not the entire Cotswolds.
The business partners have been at the helm of The Old Fleece in Woodchester for 32 years, running it alongside The Old Lodge on Minchinhampton Common for much of this time.
Reasons for their longevity include ensuring great food and ales, exemplary service and a fantastic atmosphere – all within centuries-old buildings full of charming historic features; coupled with this is a desire to innovate to keep up with customers’ ever-changing needs.
And as the recently opened extension to The Old Fleece has shown, it’s possible to adapt a late-18th-century building to seamlessly make it fit for the 21st.
‘The pub dates back to the 1790s and was an old coaching inn; over time they purchased part of the garden from a nearby house to make it a bit bigger,’ Nick explains.
‘We’ve now gone a step further with our new extension, which we’re calling The Barn. We’ve tried to make it feel like it’s been here for a long time, employing local craftspeople such as master stonemason Alan Hawkins for the work and using and preserving recycled materials such as large pieces of stone from Rooksmoor Mill, which we’ve used to make a feature in The Barn. A few people have mistakenly thought we have restored part of our building and can’t believe it when we tell them it’s new.’
Nick and Christophe believe that enlarging and modernising The Old Fleece is key to its long-term future.
‘Nowadays, pubs need to be a certain size to be economically viable and offer the right facilities. This is where we’re coming from.
‘We applied for planning permission to undertake the work before the Covid pandemic and were able to use a bounce-back loan to help fund it: it’s been a long time in the making and it’s been a typical Grand Designs-type project, taking twice as long to complete and costing three times as much, but it’s also been great fun.’
The Barn itself is being used as a café-style restaurant and lounge area, opening for breakfasts and coffee from at 8am and continuing throughout the day, and will be invaluable as an events space.
Alongside it is a new underground cellar, which is able to maintain a constant temperature of between 12°C-13°C, making it more energy efficient.
There are new self-flushing toilets, underfloor heating and an all-electric kitchen too. Next year will see improvements to the car park and gardens and the front of the building is due to be cleaned and repointed.
‘The younger generation drinks less and they want nice loos and not to have to touch anything,’ explains Christophe. ‘There’s also a real coffee, breakfast and brunch culture that we’re keen to cater for.’
Christophe put his degree in art history and art from Les Beaux Arts and his previous career designing theatre sets to good use at The Old Fleece, creating a space that’s visually exciting and comfortable, with a touch of drama.
There’s a new fireplace created from Cotswold stone, metal cellar shutters forged by a blacksmith, a large window similar to those found in mills that honours the area’s industrial heritage, an oculus window to flood the space with natural light during the day, with a complementing circular stained glass window made by Johannes Steuck from Ruskin Mill that will be lit up at night, and even chandeliers.
Meanwhile, those familiar with The Old Lodge will see an old friend in the shape of its stone lion, which has been brought in from the cold and is now a feature in the dining area.
The Old Fleece belonged to the old Stroud Brewery for many years and has long been a free house, which means Nick and Christophe are answerable to themselves for any long-term decisions they make. The pair have been business partners since meeting during the christening of Nick’s son Sebastian more than three decades ago.
‘This place hasn’t changed very much in 200 years and we want to make sure it’s open for at least another century,’ says Christophe. ‘We feel as though we are the custodians of this place – and that it is important to provide additional space and evolve for a changing market.
‘That said, we have a low turnover of staff and still have customers who came in when we took the place on and also see their children and grandchildren.
‘It’s being an amazing journey for us to create The Barn and we hope people will like it.’.
Nick and Christophe took on the Old Fleece at Rooksmoor in 1993, the same year that Ellie Sainty and her late husband Ric became publicans at The Old Spot, previously the Fox and Hounds, in Dursley. Other longstanding pub landlords over recent years have included David and Ann Hollis of The Talbot Inn in Cirencester, who retired in November 2025 after 32 years.
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