IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Moormead Road, SWINDON, SN4 9BX

Yet another pub closure is recorded here. The pub is owned by Arkell's brewery Image The erstwhile landlords took over the pub as recently as December 2009. No explanation has been given for their departure and the future of the pub is uncertain. According to a director: “It is with regret that we have had to close the Three Tuns at Wroughton following the departure of the landlords. “As we do not have a landlord in a position to take over the pub we have boarded it up and have yet to make a firm decision about its future. It is possible that it will not be open again in the short term.” (source swindonadvertiser.co.uk) The brewery bought the pub as far back as 1889 when it was already a substantial property, with "brewhouse, stables, coach house, shed, piggeries, other out-buildings, yard, garden, half an acre of orchards and meadow land, known as Home Close". Local legend has it that a local, one Dickie Tarrant, would take his horse into the pub with him. The restricted size inside meant the horse had to leave the bar backwards. (source swindonadvertiser.co.uk who probably got it from the Arkells website) Commenting on the closure a local parish councillor has been quoted as saying: “I don’t think people will be too sad about it. We’ve got plenty of pubs in the village.” (source swindonadvertiser.co.uk)

An ex Morrisons Local store. The 140 Morrison's convenience stores were sold in September 2015 after the chain had made a trading loss on them for a couple of years. This is the rebranded result. The premises were previously Arkell's "The Three Tuns" which closed in 2010, see Image and Image The name of the pub can be seen in the brickwork on the gable end. The front has Kingsdown Ales & Porter in the three brick recessed panels. I can remember the landlord in the late 60s and early 70s, Eddie Bye, having a noisy parrot in the bar; so I used to use the lounge on the odd occasions I visited the place. Before the construction of the Ellandune Centre in the early 1970s the War Memorial stood at this road junction where the mini roundabout is.

This early Victorian building was, until 2011 the Three Tuns Public House. For a short period it was a Morrisons Local shop, now part of the Co-operative. See also Image The large village of Wroughton lies 2 miles south of Swindon at the foot of the Marlborough Downs escarpment. Two headstreams of the River Ray flow from the downs and meet in the village to run north as Wroughton Stream. There is much evidence of settlement and intensive farming of the area in the Roman period. Originally an agricultural village, most workers now commute into Swindon.

A close look at the brickwork on the front of the former public house, now a shop Image The name 'The Three Tuns' is on the brickwork of the gable to the right of the image. The large village of Wroughton lies 2 miles south of Swindon at the foot of the Marlborough Downs escarpment. Two headstreams of the River Ray flow from the downs and meet in the village to run north as Wroughton Stream. There is much evidence of settlement and intensive farming of the area in the Roman period. Originally an agricultural village, most workers now commute into Swindon.

The A4361.

Situated in Moormead Road, this building dates from the 1970s having replaced the former TE to the right of the photo, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6577834 refers. It has the code SSWGN and provides telephone and broadband services to 3,283 residential and 137 non-residential premises in Wroughton plus Overtown nearby. A BT vehicle can be seen parked by the side of the TE. The numbering ranges of this TE are (01793) 81xxxx, 845xxx, the (01793) referring to the Swindon group of fourteen TEs, and its postcode is SN4 9BU.

Ready for spring planting.