Arkell's celebrates as pub opens after three-year fight

Arkell's Brewery has finally opened its new-build site, the Tawny Owl, after a three-year fight with local planners and property company Bryant Homes.

The Tawny Owl at Taw Hill, Swindon, opened at the end of October after a £2m investment.

It is the brewer's second new-build pub of the 21st century, having been built three years after the Jovial Monk at nearby St Andrew's Ridge in Swindon.

The Tawny Owl was only built after support from local MP Michael Wills, chairman of the residents' association, local residents and a local newsletter the Link Magazine decided to back the campaign to build a pub on the housing estate.

Building company Bryant Homes had other ideas and it had proposed building apartments on the site.

Swindon MP Michael Wills said: "My constituents in Taw Hill were moving into an area that had just been built and that lacked a focal point around which a new community could form.

"Arkell's took seriously the idea of the pub being a unifying force in the new area and consulted with the local community about how the pub should develop.

"It has been a model of how businesses and local communities can work together."

James Arkell, at the brewery, commented: "Swindon is still growing, and the north of the town in particular still has to accommodate over 5,000 new homes over the next few years.

"We want to bring life to these new communities and we feel that providing a focal point, such as a family pub, is an essential part of any new residential development - it is as important as a good nursery, a grocery shop or post office."

Pictured from left: George Arkell; Mark Edwards, chairman of Taw Hill Residents' Association and his daughter and James Arkell in the JCB on the site of Arkell's new-build pub, the Tawny Owl, in Swindon.​

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