A revered 1600s Cotswold pub where King Charles once stopped by pull a pint and sing the establishment's praise is raising a glass to the removal of a legal threat that threatened to shutter the business for good.

Villagers and regulars of the community-owned Fleece Inn at Hillesley, near Wotton-under-Edge, rallied to form an "I stand with the Fleece" campaign with posters and publicity appearing in windows throughout the village.

Landlady Rebecca Cameron was left reeling when Stroud District Council licensing officers told her the pub's legality to trade would be reconsidered on October 4. 

A statement said that, under the Licensing Act 2003, the hearing would hear claims that "the landlord and landlady of the Fleece Inn have not taken seriously, or taken any steps to address, incidents involving criminality reported to the Police over the previous two years."

It added: "The review applicant states that these incidents involved threats with menaces and harassment/intimidation by patrons at the Fleece Inn against other patrons at the Fleece Inn. It is claimed that the 'landlords' have displayed poor management, lack of neutrality and lack of duty of care."

Fearful that the complaint could see the popular venue closed down, some 158 supporters wrote to the council pleading with it to throw out the move. The identity of the complainant has not been disclosed.

But Mrs Cameron told Punchline-Gloucester.com that SDC had now informed her that the review request, which was due for a special hearing with SDC's Licencing Subcommittee on October 4, had been withdrawn at the eleventh hour.

She said: "It was good news to get the call from Stroud, but this has been three and half months of crap! We've suffered a lot of stress and considerable time and cost with legal consultations."

Mrs Cameron added that she understood the complainant had been advised to not pursue the review because of the overwhelming public support for the pub, while a police report for the review had also leant in favour of not rescinding the licence.

She added: "This has definitely been a bit of a blow to us alongside all the normal challenges of running a pub which all publicans face, but I have to say that the community here is absolutely fantastic. We barred the individual in question and had not wanted to go into the reasons why because that involved other people in the community. It all came out in the end and was very unpleasant for a couple of months."

The knock-on effects of the claim had also been "really nasty", she said. Jeopardy over the pub's licence had also included duress for the parent company's board of directors, she said, and parish councillors had also been drawn into the conflict.

She added: "We have been here three years and while we are not put off it did get a little bit close; it's been tough and the impact has been considerable. We also have chidren, as well, and as much as we try to insulate them they have been aware of this."

The decision now meant, however, that the pub could refocus on its autumn schedule of events of quiz nights, coffee mornings and music sessions. The Fleece employs six people altogether in the village and holds two prestigious CAMRA awards for its beer, including best pub in Gloucestershire in 2019.

● King Charles is a founding patron of the Pub is the Hub non-profit consultancy, which gave guidance on the setting up of Hillesley's pub in its status as a community-owned venture.