A 400-YEAR-OLD former coaching inn has bitten the dust, after demolition workers moved in to level the fire-hit historic building.

The derelict George Hotel on the B4224 at Stars Pitch, Mitcheldean, was gutted by a blaze at the start of December, and although its walls remained standing it has now been reduced to rubble by bulldozers.

Villagers raised the alarm after waking to see flames and smoke billowing from the three-storey building around 3am on Tuesday, December 3.

The cause of the blaze is still unknown, along with the future of the site, which has outline planning permission for sheltered flats dating back to 2014, and which has long been a concern to residents.

The George, which dates back to the early 1600s and finally closed in 2009, was reputedly “home” to a ghost called ‘Trooper Joe’ who shot himself in the inn while on his way to a court martial.

And for well over a century, the regulars delighted in telling visitors how he often returned to re-arrange bottles and glasses on their shelves in its days.

Speaking last month, the chairman of Mitcheldean parish council Jackie Fraser said the state of the derelict building had been a concern for years and councillors had been forced to take action when slates from the old skittles alley started falling off onto a remembrance garden.