ARSON is suspected in the burning of Cinderford's historic Railway Hotel/tavern last Wednesday afternoon (October 5).

Police are investigating the fire which was well alight at around 5pm. The former hotel, directly opposite the station, was built at the same time by the Forest Brewery to cater for the needs of passengers and users of the railway.

When Francis Wintle's Mitcheldean Forest Brewery put their pubs up for sale in 1923, the Railway Hotel was one of the most prestigious pubs in their tied estate. It was described as a modern stone built premises outside the Station, 'placed to command a large and independent trade.'

Passenger services were withdrawn from the station in 1958 although it remained as a goods depot until 1967. Trade inevitably diminished at the Railway Hotel. It was a Whitbread pub in the 1970's and 1980's and in the late 1990s transformed to a venue called 'Trax'. But by the middle of the decade owners Punch Taverns had renamed the pub as the more traditional Railway Tavern.

Closure came in the summer of 2007 when a planning application had been submitted for change of use for conversion and extensions to 10 apartments.