14/09/2026
🚨 THE WORST KEPT SECRET IS FINALLY OUT… 🚨
After months of rumours, speculation and probably a few too many people asking us “So… we’ve heard you’re leaving the Rollers?”… we can confirm that….
We are taking over The Pilot in Hardwicke! 🍻
You may remember our post addressing the rumours back on 6th August. Well, here’s the important bit…
WE ARE NOT LEAVING THE CHEESE ROLLERS! ❤️
If you’re a regular at the Rollers, you’ve probably known this has been in the works for a while. But now’s the time to make it official!
So, what does this mean for The Cheese Rollers?
👉 Tuesday Quiz Nights will still be hosted by Shaun.
👉 Mary will still be cooking the Sunday Roasts (most weeks!).
👉 Live Music and all the other events already announced will still be going ahead.
👉 Our amazing existing team will be staying exactly where they are.
The only difference is that Shaun will be managing the day-to-day running of The Pilot, while Mary will be managing the day-to-day running of The Cheese Rollers.
And as for The Pilot… we cannot wait to get started!
We officially get the keys next week and, providing there are no setbacks, we’re planning to open the doors for DRINKS ONLY on Friday 25th September from 3pm. 🍻
The kitchen will follow the week after. Once the kitchen is ready to go, chefs happy with their new kitchen, we’ll initially be serving a simple menu while we get everything up and running.
Quizzes, Live Music and other events will then follow over the coming weeks as we recruit, train and build our new team. There will be a few faces we have retained as well!
We’re not going to pretend the first few weeks will be completely seamless. There’ll be a new team, new management, new systems and plenty for us to learn and get right as we go.
So if you visit us at The Pilot in those early weeks, please bear with us!
Pardon the pun… but we really don’t want the Pilot to have a bumpy flight! 😂✈️
There’s also a bit of personal history here for us. Both Mary and Shaun lived in Quedgeley for a number of years — and we still own our home here — so we know just how important The Pilot is to the local community.
We’re incredibly excited about what we can do with the pub and, most importantly, we want to make it a place the local community is proud to call their own.
This is the start of a very exciting new chapter for us — and we’d love you to come along for the ride. ❤️
More information about opening dates for the kitchen, food, events, live music and everything else at The Pilot will be coming very soon via The Pilots page (we don’t currently have access to it).
And, as always, if you’ve got any questions or concerns, stick them in the comments below! 👇