• Host:
• Gill White

• Where:
• Eastcott Hill
• Swindon
• Wiltshire SN1 3JG

• Telephone:
• (01793) 534180

• Facilities:
• Garden Or Patio
• Pub Food

• Map:
• 

The Duke of Wellington, Swindon

Click on the images for a larger version

The Duke of Wellington is the little pub with the big reputation.

Among beer enthusiasts it is revered as one of the best preserved backstreet town pubs in the country and it is no wonder CAMRA members make a beeline for it when visiting Swindon.

Unusually, the beer is still dispensed directly from the casks and although it is one of Arkell's smallest pubs, 'The Duke' offers a choice between the simple public bar and the cosy little snug.

The Duke of Wellington in the title is, of course, the same one who finally saw off Napoleon in 1815, but it was not for his exploits at the Battle of Waterloo that John Arkell paid tribute to the man when he opened his new pub back in 1869.

The Temperance Movement was about to force a repeal of the Beerhouse Act that Wellington had overseen as Prime Minister back in 1830. Anticipating the new law, John bought two houses in Eastcott Hill, knocked them into one and opened it as a beerhouse. He couldn't resist naming his new pub in Wellington's honour.

Before the year was out, the licensing laws had been severely tightened, but it was all too late to affect The Duke. As an existing beerhouse, it was entitled to a new licence.

Lovers of fine beer and fine old pubs have been raising their glasses to The Duke of Wellington ever since, but if John Arkell had waited just a few short months longer, it would probably never have existed.