Carpenters Arms

Trusted for 10 years

Train travellers returning to Swindon from London know they are home when they see the Arkell's Ales sign on the side of The Carpenters Arms. The track looks right down on the pub which, actually, was here before even the railway.

Parts of the building go back to the early 19th century and the pub - as well as Arkell's who bought the pub in 1881 - must have been well known to Alfred Williams, the celebrated 'Hammerman Poet' who was born and inspired by the countryside that surrounds us here in South Marston.

Williams lived all his life in the village and books like 'Life In A Railway Factory' recall vividly what it was like in the area in the early years of this century.

The celebrated 'Williams Willow Tree' where Alfred composed verses in his head before returning home to get the poems down on paper is literally just yards from the pub.

Some parts of The Carpenters Arms would be unfamiliar to Williams, though. A major facelift in 1990s, for instance, turned what had been a fairly small pub into a still comfortable but much roomier building.

With our traditional, home-cooked Wiltshire food, the Carpenters is now perfectly geared up for a new generation of family pub-goers who are also attracted by our garden and children's playground, where the excitement of the passing trains provides a bonus for our smallest visitors.