The Fleece Inn

Bretforton, Evesham, Worcestershire

Grade B · Building datedTrading · checked Sept 2026

The Fleece Inn claims 1400. The records say 1848.

Claimed
1400
First record
1848
Building
no single date

The building. Early 15th-century longhouse, altered in the 17th century.

Pub website Directions
  • Real ale
  • Food
  • Beer garden

How old is it, really?

How to read this ribbon
Claims 1400; first recorded 1848.

Hatched: 448 years the pub claims but no document confirms. Solid: 178 years on record.

The claim

Owned by the National Trust since Lola Taplin bequeathed it in 1977, the Fleece is a medieval longhouse that became a pub only in 1848. Its flagstoned rooms still hold pewter, settles and chalked witch circles on the hearth. Restored after a fire in 2004, it hosts an asparagus festival and morris sides.

What the records show

The half-timbered longhouse is documented as early 15th century, but it was a farmhouse and was first licensed in 1848. Its age as a building is sound; its history as a pub is Victorian.

Dated evidence for The Fleece Inn, earliest first
YearWhatSource
1400Claimed foundingThe pub
1848First record of a drinking house hereCAMRA

What to look for inside

  • Owned by the National Trust
  • Apotropaic witch marks preserved by the hearths
  • Hosts the Vale of Evesham asparagus festivities

Visiting

The Fleece Inn is in Bretforton, England, at Bretforton, Evesham, Worcestershire. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.

Sources

  1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleece_Inn
  2. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/worcestershire-herefordshire/the-fleece-inn
  3. camra.org.uk/pubs/fleece-inn-bretforton-153816
  4. ratings.food.gov.uk/business/685847

Know something we don’t?Suggest a correctionLast checked Sept 2026

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Checked by OldPubs: The Fleece Inn claims 1400

Free to put on your own site, no permission needed. It shows what the pub claims and what the records support, and it changes when the data does.

How to use it, and how to change what it says — if you have a document we have not seen, we would like to read it.

Other old pubs near Bretforton

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