IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
High Street, SWINDON, SN1 3EN

In the days when Swindon was a railway town this was its premier hotel, boasting two AA stars and having 18 bedrooms. In 1955 one could book bed and breakfast from 18/6d [93p], lunch from 6/- [30p] and dinner from 7/- [35p]. The rapid development of Swindon in recent decades has seen the building of several large hotels belonging to international chains, and this resulted in the Goddard Arms being forced to close in 2007. It reopened in December 2009 as a pub with restaurant and rooms.

The furthest building (numbers 3 & 5 High Street) is late 19th century with some fine detailing. Listed, grade II, with details at: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1355868 The nearer building (number 7 High Street) is a purpose built bank dated 1906. Listed, grade II, with details at: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1283594 Old Town, on its hill above the 'new' railway town, is the cultural heart of Swindon. The old and the new combined into a single town in 1900.

These two ornate entrances to the Lloyds Bank branch in the High Street are evidence of banking in the past. Although now one, they were two different outfits: the left was Capital and Counties Bank, the right was the County of Gloucester Bank. The dates in the stonework are 1760 and 1906. Oddly, Lloyds Bank started out as Taylors and Lloyds in 1765. The Capital and Counties began in 1877 with a result of a merger between the Hampshire Banking Company and the North Wilts Banking Company; the County of Gloucester was created from the merger of Gloucester County & City Bank (established in 1834) and the Cirencester-based bank Pitt, Croome, Bowley & Brown (established in 1790).

The building here replaced an earlier one in about 1780. It became a hotel in the early 19th century and was also used as a courthouse as well as the booking office for the Great Western Railway when it arrived in the mid 19th century. It closed during 2007 as it could no longer compete with the chain hotels that have arrived in the last 30 years. Grade II listed http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=318760

Numbers 10-12 High Street was built originally as a brewery in the mid 19th century. The brewery closed in 1945 and the building later became a bank. Listed for group value, grade II, with details at: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1023502 Old Town, on its hill above the 'new' railway town, is the cultural heart of Swindon. The old and the new combined into a single town in 1900.

The bank at 5 High Street was a Lloyds TSB branch at the April 2013 date of this view. It was rebranded Lloyds Bank in September 2013.

This Barclay's branch occupies a former brewery dating back to the nineteenth century. Swindon's Old Town was the cradle of many such enterprises, with the North Wiltshire Brewery being recorded nearby as far back as 1761. By the mid-1800s, Edward John Ewer had taken on the reins and let the business out to a John Harding Sheppard. But Cirencester draper's son Richard Bowly took over the brewery in the late 1850s; he made a good living and expanded the business, with new premises designed by London architect Arthur Kinder.

Built as a 3-storey house in the late 18th century, Grade II listed in 1951. The entrance on the left is to 8A, the premises of the High Street Club, formerly known as Swindon Town Working Men's Club. The door next to it is number 8, the premises of Appsbroker.

Eastcott House in High Street is offices with apartments above and behind. The offices are used by a firm of solicitiors. Old Town, on its hill above the 'new' railway town, is the cultural heart of Swindon. The old and the new combined into a single town in 1900.

The ivy covered Goddard Arms public house in Old Town, Swindon.