An image of the front of a historic building on a high street. The building needs repair. Its first floor is timber framed. There is an archway entrance over which is written 'circa 1497'.
The front of the historic Fleece Hotel on Westgate Street, Gloucester. The building is undergoing repair as part of the Gloucester High Street Heritage Action Zone. © Historic England
The front of the historic Fleece Hotel on Westgate Street, Gloucester. The building is undergoing repair as part of the Gloucester High Street Heritage Action Zone. © Historic England

Repairs to Gloucester's Historic Fleece Hotel are Under Way

Work to conserve the Grade I listed medieval building is under way as part of Gloucester’s Cathedral Quarter High Street Heritage Action Zone.

Vital repairs to the former Meeks Shoes shop have also started.

Contents
  1. Restoring medieval Fleece Hotel
  2. Plans for former Meeks Shoes building

Westgate Street's historic gems

Please click on the gallery images to enlarge.

Looking across a high street to a three-story timber-framed building. Its ground floor has a row of shopfronts. Its upper floors and roof show the need for repair. A view across the city of Gloucester with the cathedral in the middle distance. In the foreground is a collection of buildings in poor repair set around a derelict courtyard. A sign on the upper floor of one of the buildings reads 'Fleece Hotel'. A cobbled, recessed arched entranceway into a historic inn building. A sign above reads 'circa 1497' and another, very damaged, says 'hotel'. A view across a high street to a row of three old buildings. Each is a different height and made of different materials. The red-brick building on the left has fine stonework details and a sign reading 'Meeks Shoes.' It is closed down and looks in poor repair. A narrow, red brick three story historic building on a high street. Its ground floor has a modern shop front and signs show it was formerly a shoe shop. It is no longer trading and the building needs repair.

Restoring medieval Fleece Hotel

The medieval building, which is on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register, is being prepared for major conservation works as part of Gloucester’s Cathedral Quarter High Street Heritage Action Zone. This partnership between Gloucester City Council and Historic England will see £3.9 million invested in Westgate over the next three years.

Work has begun to remove modern material and expose more of the medieval timber framework so that it can be properly recorded and understood prior to conservation work and refurbishment of the building.

The Fleece is a 15th-century timber-framed building with later additions including an 18th-century frontage. It is built over a stone undercroft dating to the late 1100s, an early surviving example of its type. The Fleece is believed to have been developed as an inn, in around 1500, by the abbey (now cathedral). It is first recorded as the Golden Fleece Inn in 1673.

This first phase of work is likely to take three to four months and then the City Council will seek match funding towards the larger, Levelling Up-funded scheme to restore the building as a much-needed boutique hotel in the historic heart of the city.

The Fleece is a real historic gem, and it is wonderful that we are now taking this first step towards uncovering and consolidating the building ready for future phases of work, thanks to the Historic England funded High Street HAZ scheme.

Richard Cook, Leader Gloucester City Council

Plans for former Meeks Shoes building

Repairs are also under way a few doors up at number 14 Westgate Street. Formerly 'Meeks Shoes' shop, this Grade II* listed building has a fine 17th-century plasterwork ceiling. Funding from the HSHAZ will be used to renew the shop front to a traditional design, repair the plaster ceiling and convert the upper floors into housing.

We’re delighted that repairs to two of Westgate’s outstanding historic buildings have begun. This is an important milestone in the High Street HAZ and an important step for The Fleece which has been at risk for a long time.

Rebecca Barrett, Regional Director Historic England

Also of interest

High Streets Heritage Action Zones