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The Air Balloon is a road junction and former pub Birdlip, Gloucestershire, England. The junction is on the A417 at a significant congestion point. The pub was open from the late 18th century to 2022 when it closed as part of road improvements.
The pub was situated next to a roundabout junction with the A417, a major road between Swindon and Gloucester via Cirencester. [1] The A436 meets the A417 at this point; the two roads together form a de facto bypass of Cheltenham between Oxford and Gloucester. [2]
The pub opened in 1784 and is probably named after one of the first British balloon flights: the launching of a small hydrogen balloon by Edward Jenner on 2 September 1784, which flew from Berkeley Castle to Kingscote and then on to a field near Birdlip, [3] [4] the year after the pioneering flights of the Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon and Jacques Charles's hydrogen balloon in Paris. [1] It was known as the Balloon by 1796 and renamed the Air Balloon in 1802. [5] By 1856, the landlord was brewing beer on-site. [1] The premises were part of the Cowley Manor Estate until some time early in the twentieth century. The pub was bought by Greene King in 2004. [6] In 2020 the menu included burgers, steaks, vegetarian food, "pub classics" and a lunchtime carvery. [7]
The pub was under threat of demolition as it sat alongside a short section of single-carriageway road which is otherwise a high-quality route between the M4 and M5 motorways. [8] [9] Although the junction has been said to be a notorious accident blackspot; from 1999 to 2014 there were an estimated 340 casualties along the whole section of road and National Highways said was below average for the type of road. [10]
In March 2019, Highways England proposed improvements that would include demolition of the pub. [11] [12] Highways England has ruled out a junction at the Air Balloon as the local geography and steep hills nearby would make it impossible to build a high-quality road meeting modern safety standards. [13] The road could not be routed anywhere else as it would cut through Barrow Wake, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. [14] Highways England stated that it would talk to landowners and assess the social impact of the pub's demolition in a further design stage. [15] As of June 2021, the pub was open, but still expected to be demolished. [16] The landlord subsequently announced in December 2022 that the pub would close on New Year's Eve, and then it will be demolished. [17] [18]
Actor John Challis' widow said the couple used to visit the pub regularly, and she was sad to see it close. [19]
A spokesperson for Highways England expressed surprise at the pub's closure, saying it could have stayed open longer. There are additional concerns that a now-closed prominent landmark could become a magnet for vandalism. [20]
Cirencester is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, 80 miles (130 km) west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames. It is the eighth largest settlement in Gloucestershire and the largest town within the Cotswolds. It is the home of the Royal Agricultural University, the oldest agricultural college in the English-speaking world, founded in 1840. The town had a population of 20,229 in 2021.
The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is a motorway in the United Kingdom running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh element was largely complete by 1980, though a non-motorway section around Briton Ferry bridge remained until 1993. On the opening of the Second Severn Crossing in 1996, the M4 was rerouted over it.
The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Bromwich and west of Birmingham through Sandwell Valley. It continues past Bromsgrove, Droitwich Spa, Worcester, Tewkesbury, Cheltenham, Gloucester, Bristol, Clevedon, Weston-super-Mare, Bridgwater, Taunton, terminating at junction 31 for Exeter. Congestion on the section south of the M4 is common during the summer holidays, on Friday afternoons and bank holidays.
Didcot is a railway town and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire and the historic county of Berkshire. Didcot is 15 miles (24 km) south of Oxford, 10 miles (16 km) east of Wantage and 15 miles (24 km) north west of Reading. The town is noted for its railway heritage, Didcot station opening as a junction station on the Great Western Main Line in 1844. Today the town is known for the railway museum and power stations, and is the gateway town to the Science Vale: three large science and technology centres in the surrounding villages of Milton, Culham and Harwell.
The M20 is a motorway in Kent, England. It follows on from the A20 at Swanley, meeting the M25, and continuing on to Folkestone, providing a link to the Channel Tunnel and the ports at Dover. It is 50.6 miles (81.4 km) long. Although not signposted in England, this road is part of the European route E15. It is also used as a holding area for goods traffic when traffic across the English Channel is disrupted, such as Operation Stack and Operation Brock.
The A14 is a major trunk road in England, running 127 miles (204 km) from Catthorpe Interchange, a major intersection at the southern end of the M6 and junction 19 of the M1 in Leicestershire to the Port of Felixstowe, Suffolk. The road forms part of the unsigned Euroroutes E24 and E30. It is the busiest shipping lane in East Anglia carrying anything from cars to large amounts of cargo between the UK and Mainland Europe.
Ledbury is a market town and civil parish in the county of Herefordshire, England, lying east of Hereford, and west of the Malvern Hills.
The A48 is a trunk road in Great Britain running from the A40 at Highnam, 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Gloucester, England, to the A40 at Carmarthen, Wales. Before the Severn Bridge opened on 8 September 1966, it was a major route between England and South Wales. For most of its route, it runs almost parallel to the M4 motorway. During times of high winds at the Severn Bridge, the A48 is used as part of the diversion route and is still marked as a Holiday Route.
The M32 is a 4.42 miles (7.11 km) long motorway in South Gloucestershire and Bristol, England. It provides a link from the M4, a major motorway linking London and South Wales, to Bristol city centre and is maintained by National Highways, the national roads body.
The M49 is a motorway in England that links the M4 (J22) with the M5 (J18A). The southern end is on the outskirts of Avonmouth and the northern end is immediately to the east of the Prince of Wales Bridge which was constructed at the same time 1996. It is 5 miles (8 km) long and unique in that it is only accessible from other motorways.
The A419 road is a primary route between Chiseldon near Swindon at junction 15 of the M4 with the A346 road, and Whitminster in Gloucestershire, England near the M5 motorway. The A419 is managed and maintained by a private company, Road Management Group, on behalf of the UK Department for Transport.
The A417 is a main road in England running from Streatley, Berkshire to Hope under Dinmore, Herefordshire. It is best known for its section between Cirencester and Gloucester where it has primary status and forms part of the link between the major settlements of Swindon and Gloucester.
Grove Hill is an area of the Middlesbrough's Longlands and Beechwood ward in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. It is a historic part of the North Riding of Yorkshire. The area's main shopping area is off Marton Road at the junction with Marton Burn Road and Belle Vue.
Cowley is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England. It lies between the A417 and A435 roads between Cheltenham and Cirencester in the Churn Valley, and has a population of 333. The name originates from 'cow' and 'leigh', literally meaning cow pasture.
Birdlip is a village and civil parish, in the Cotswold district, in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty 6 miles (9.7 km) south of Cheltenham and 8 miles (13 km) south east of Gloucester.
Kingscote Park is a Grade II listed house and country estate in Kingscote, near Tetbury, Gloucestershire, England. The original Kingscote Park was demolished in 1951. Both houses formed part of the manor of Kingscote which was held by the Kingscote family from the 12th century and is mentioned in the Domesday Book as 'Chingescote'.
An air balloon usually refers to a hot air balloon.
A650 road is a main route through the West Yorkshire conurbation in England. The road goes from Keighley to Wakefield on a rough north west/south east axis for 25 miles (40 km). The route is mostly single carriageway with some dualled sections in the Aire Valley, Bradford and the approach to Wakefield from the M1.
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