The Golden Farm pub in the Beeches dates back to the 17th-century and was once a smart country residence. At an even earlier date there was a farm on the site known as New Farm - it was perhaps contemporary with the nearby New Mills, built by the Abbot John Blake in about 1530.
British Listed Buildings - Golden Farm Public House Cirencester
When Simonds Brewery first opened the pub in 1953 they tried to theme it on the notorious highwayman William Davis, known as "the Golden Farmer". Davis was only tenuously connected with the local area (He lived at one time in "Sudbury" [?Sedbury or Sodbury] in Gloucestershire). Another pub, called the "Golden Farmer", is located in Easthampstead, Bracknell.
The real origin of the name "Golden Farm" is not known - probably, boringly, it refers to the colour of Cotswold stone or the yellow corn in the fields nearby.
From the Simond Brewery magazine The Hop Leaf Gazette in 1953 (Posted by Derek King on the "Old Ciren" Facebook page); note the splendid inn sign:
On William Davis:
The Golden Farmer, Murderer and Highwayman - Alexander Smith's account, first published in 1719.
07/03/2021
A post on the Old Ciren Facebook group has an extract from the 1911 census which shows that the actor David Niven lived at the Golden Farm, aged one. Apparently he mentions living in Cirencester in The Moon's a Balloon. There used to be a photo of David Niven inside the pub, but no-one is sure whether it is still there now.