The Old Forge Inn, Gloucester - Punch Pubs

Our Tenancy agreements vary between 3 - 5 years and offer a flexible approach to running your own pub business. Your pub is set up to trade and you can set up your own unique food offer. You will receive a high level of support and everything you need to run a successful business. From the beginning, you will have a dedicated Operations Manager, 12 support teams, access to training and development, business planning, operations and accounting expertise. This is an entrepreneurial agreement suitable for people wishing to have a greater input into the retail offer and allowing them to drive their business their own way.

Lease
We offer a selection of lease agreements with a tenure of 10 years+. All of which are fully repairing and protected under the lease and tenanted legislation. Our lease agreements are a great way to run a pub business on a long-term basis.

Training & Support provided

We are passionate about supporting you to be the best you can be. Because we know that professional training is key to your success, we are there to support with training and pub management resources every step of your journey. Before you begin training, we will ask you to attend our free Induction Programme 'Progress with Punch.' At the Punch Academy you will build and refresh your knowledge, so you feel confident from the beginning and hit the ground with the best knowledge possible. You will also have some E-learning modules to complete.

Punch Academy Online
This online resource is free to use and your window to training support for you and your team. Here you can book an Academy Workshop, complete an E-learning or dive into the bookshelf full of business guides.

Winning Workshops
These workshops will also keep you up to date with the latest industry food and drink trends and marketing tips, or even legislation that may affect your business.

Punch Academy Pathways
We are always on hand to help you build your business and so we will provide tailored pathways for your continued development and growth.

We're looking for a passionate operator with a hospitality background. Experience with catering/running a food business is essential.

You'll be the face of this beautiful country pub and at the heart of the village community. You'll also be confident in delegating to a well-trained and engaging team. You will lead by example, ensuring consistency throughout from the kitchen to the cellar.

We're looking for a Publican with a proven track record of managing seasonal peaks in the summer and Christmas. You'll become an integral part of the local community. You'll also be knowledgeable in food and drink and will be proud to deliver excellent training to your staff. You'll aim to have the best standards and service for miles.

The Old Forge Inn is a gorgeous, late 15th-century building on the edge of Whitminster Village. It's a traditional country pub with a large car park for twenty vehicles, a spacious beer garden and picturesque views of the surrounding areas.

The garden oozes trading potential with lots of seating for guests to relax and enjoy in the summer and to nestle in the heated smoking area during winter and late summer evenings. The pub boasts tasty cask ales and cask marque accreditation lagers, ciders and ales on draught, wines, spirits, and soft drinks.

If you enjoy hosting events, this is the pub for you. Guests love the live music events, karaoke, parties on the patio and festivals. They also enjoy home-cooked traditional pub fayre and popular Sunday lunches.

The Old Forge Inn is also the pub for you if you love sports, as Sky and BT sports are a fantastic addition to the offer. The Old Forge Inn has a prominent roadside presence.

You'll be taking the reins of a spacious bar with two trading areas: the main bar feels traditional, warm, and cosy, with screens showing sports games. You'll also discover a separate 24-capacity seater restaurant away from the bar area for a quieter dining experience or function. The savvy operator will take advantage of the spacious beer garden.

Whitminster is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire on the A38. It's about 10 km south of Gloucester and 10 km northwest of Stroud. Whitminster is a fast-growing village close to the M5 motorway, with Bristol, South Wales, and the South Midlands all within an hour's drive. Recent developments are taking place, boosting the population. Whitminster is ten minutes from Slimbridge Wildlife Trust and twenty minutes from Cheltenham., Punch Pubs & Co have over 1200 pubs across the UK, 12 incredible support teams, a National Innovation and Training awarded training programme, industry leading tech and the winner of the 2024 Publican Awards. Perfect for anyone keen to take on their own pub.

Being your own boss and running your own Punch pub business gives you the flexibility to put your ideas into practice, be creative and innovative. We support your business plans and ideas, using our skills and years of experience to support you running a pub as one of our Publicans. We offer ongoing support from training courses for you and your team, regular business reviews and visits from your Operations Manager to help inform you about the trends and offers to drive your business forward.

Ways to work with us…

Management Partnership
The Management Partnership is a fantastic agreement and the ideal way to run a pub on a self-employed basis. You'll have peace of mind knowing that most of the day-to-day bills associated with running a small business are not yours. This leaves you free to focus entirely on delivering a great retail offer whilst driving sales and profit and a ready-to-go concept with its marketing calendar.

You'll also be committed to driving sales using all available platforms for marketing and take pride in everything you do.

Private accommodation

This exciting business opportunity provides four private bedrooms, including a private kitchen and a lounge.

About the Agreement

We love working with experienced entrepreneurs and we're happy to be flexible with our agreements and products to match your business and vision.

Our Flexible Tenancy agreement offers a piece of mind approach to running your own pub business for a total term of up to 5-years with a flexible notice period. We also offer flexible deposit options, with build ups from as little as £1,000 as well as flexible price bands and release fees which are available.

Whatever the agreement, with Punch you always get:

A progressive pub company - winners of the Publican Awards 2022 & 2024!

• Industry leading investment with a whole world of possibilities


• Industry leading training, with our Academy and Kitchen


• Industry leading e-commerce platform - Punch Buying Club


• Expert coaching and advice every step of the way



• The calculation of the initial Ingoing Costs assumes a minimum deposit, £1,000 & legal fees. The subsequent deposit build up (if any) will need to be paid over 52 weeks. This can be discussed with the recruitment team or Operations Manager