The not disagreeable entrance to the coach station, which is more a lengthy piece of landscaped road than a conventional station but it all looks rather nicely done. And let’s be ridiculous, not everywhere can be as lovely as North Walsham’s International Bus Interchange.
Swindon glistening in the sun.
I got there half an hour early in case I couldn’t find the stop, but the coach was already parked up. A woman pushed past me in the queue and I swore at her in my mind, annoyed if she took the emergency exit row seat. I like to think of myself as a patient and generous person (well, sort of), but there are limits, and those limits are legroom related.
She didn’t take it, so diplomatic relations were restored.
The coach wasn’t overly burdened with passengers, there were about fifteen of us.
The journey was without incident, the driver made some announcements and a woman played her phone loudly because seemingly no form of public transport is complete without someone deciding that everyone else needs to experience their media choices.
And safely into London Victoria coach station in all its greyness.
The rail fares from Swindon into London were ridiculously high, so I was pleased that this coach was rather more affordable at around £12. Everything went to schedule, the coach was clean, the seats were comfortable, the temperature met my expectations and I had plenty of space in my emergency exit row seat, so all to the good. But this was the third National Express journey I had taken in a weekend and the passenger numbers seemed lower than would even make the journey viable.
I popped into the Sir Daniel Arms pub in Swindon for a quick coffee (well, eight of them as I like to test the caffeine infrastucture of the venue) before my National Express coach to London. I had thought that I had written about this JD Wetherspoon venue before, but it has transpired that I haven’t. Although I did mention it in June 2018 when a group of us visited it before walking the Ridgeway.
I’ll take the history of the pub’s name from the chain’s website:
“This modern building stands on the site of a row of small shops, 1–10 Fleet Street. They served the adjacent railway village which was built by the Great Western Railway in the mid 19th century. The row included the Sir Daniel Arms, which traded until the 1980s, and was named after Sir Daniel Gooch. He proposed that the Great Western Railway Works should be built in Swindon and then ran the works which subsequently dominated Swindon for nearly 150 years.”
A bit of JD Wetherspoon bling. Incidentally, I don’t have a carpet photo, but there’s carpet in this one so that will have to do. I appreciate that this may disappoint the more carpet specialist readers of this blog, assuming that there actually are any. There are two floors to the venue, although the upper floor is closed off during quieter periods.
To help with the lack of photos, here’s a steak pudding that I had in February 2026 at the pub, namely as this venue is at the lowest price band for the chain for this was only just a little over £6 for the food and drink. I don’t claim that it’s a great meal, but for the price it is very hard to complain and so I don’t.
Anyway, onto the reviews as I like browsing through them and this venue is a little towards the higher end of the ratings on Google.
“The main reason for this negative review is how disgusted I am with the service received by what I assume was a member of management. From the moment we arrived she was rude and continued to be for the duration of our visit. I’ve just passed by driving test so surprised my mum with a trip to Swindon for her birthday so this was supposed to be a lovely day, yet her attitude to my mum and I was appalling. It was so bad, two ladies actually approached my mum to ask if she was okay out in the toilets as they were concerned.”
I always wish reviewers would give a hint about how the situation began. It feels unlikely, although not impossible, that a staff member simply appeared from nowhere and selected a customer for a sustained campaign of discourtesy. There is usually a prelude to these things. That said, surprising one’s mum with a birthday trip to Swindon after passing a driving test is an act of confidence, and I respect the ambition.
“Pint if thatchers tasted like water and exactly the same with the Stella, got it changed but still tasted the same, won’t be going back anytime soon”
I would like to note that Thatchers is meant to taste like that, but that would appear to be too churlish.
“I went in with my assistance dog got a drink for me and bowl of water. Then had a manager come over telling me unless had a uk pass couldnt come in and was refused another drink. Wouldn’t mind but we sat outside so was no where near people eating . Disgusting the way was treated. My dog had jacket and lead stating what he was with Canine Partner jacket and lead and lanyard. Disgusting how weather’s poon treated me”
The chain is being questioned over this at the moment and now genuine assistance dogs are potentially being refused because some people have pretended in the past that their dog is an assistance dog when it is no such thing. Sub-optimal for all concerned.
“Unbearably loud music on the weekends”
I’m with the customer here, it’s one of those Lloyds venues and I’m aware that it gets far too vibrant on a weekend….
On the real ale front there were seven available, from breweries including Twisted, Hanlons, Hop Union and Phoenix, all at their low prices of under £3 a pint. I was on coffee rather than beer because I had a coach to catch and sometimes even I make decisions with a vague nod towards responsibility.
Anyway, it’s all cheerful and the coffee is suitably cheap and reliable, so what more could I want.
I’m not sure anyone will notice unless they’re particularly avid readers, and there’s a limited number of those, but I’m jumping around a little with these posts to try and get to the end as I’m now on the next trip. This is the constant difficulty of running a travel blog at my level of international glamour. Sometimes one has to write about Swindon while mentally being somewhere else, which is probably how a lot of people experience Swindon anyway.
Anyway, this is the Ibis Budget in Swindon, the first time that I’ve stayed there. In a rather sub-optimal manner, there was no staff member at reception and I had to trek around to Holiday Inn Express to find someone. I’d note that I’m aware that they are different chains, but previous guests have said that they’re sharing receptions to a degree.
After I located the receptionist I was pleased to be told that my room had been upgraded. Now, this is all a bit relative, I had booked a thrifty room with no window and I was allocated a room with a window. I have not included the window in the photo, perhaps because I didn’t want to show off too much.
I liked the carpets in the corridors, but I should probably get out more. There is something worrying about reaching the stage in life where hotel corridor carpets become worthy of comment, but at least it shows I am still noticing the world around me. Not necessarily the important parts of it, but parts nonetheless.
The restaurant menu.
Apparently it’s open 24 hours a day although since I couldn’t find a reception in the evening, I’m a little sceptical about getting a chicken curry and a pint at 03:43.
Breakfast was included in the room rate and was quite basic, although it happened to suit my needs entirely. If you like ham, yoghurt and burnt bacon, then this was a winner and those are elements that suit me.
It worked for me and I went through a lot of the hotel’s ham and bacon offerings. The coffee machine was broken and they had run out of orange juice, so I opted for apple juice as I’m flexible like that. I like to think of myself as adaptable in moments of crisis, provided the crisis is relatively small and involves chilled breakfast beverages.
It wasn’t busy at breakfast and I’m not sure that it was very busy anywhere in the hotel.
I’d note that they probably need to make these automatic doors easier to operate as they’re not automatic and require the pressing the button on the left hand side. I have no idea why they’ve made it that complex and that’s confused numerous reviewers and it confused me. I accept that confusing me is not necessarily proof of poor design, but when several other people are also baffled by a door, perhaps the door needs to take some responsibility.
Get healthy when staying at Ibis Budget…..
I found this a slightly odd hotel which doesn’t sit entirely well in the Ibis Budget brand. I’m not sure that they should have joint receptions with other chains, I wouldn’t expect Travelodge and Premier Inn to share reception desks. The restaurant area needs some investment and the breakfast was a little odd in its selection. The rooms with no windows don’t really feel appropriate even for Ibis Budget, although I would have been content with one. However, there weren’t any internal or external noise disturbances, the room was clean and I liked the breakfast as burnt bacon and a heap of ham works for me.
It’s not entirely optimal to approach a railway station and see that it’s a bit shut and there are people milling about outside.
It either meant that someone famous was there or the bloody railway network had broken again.
It soon became apparent that this was another Network Rail debacle.
But, having noted that, I like a bit of drama in my life. I am not seeking genuine peril, civil disorder or an unscheduled night on a station concourse. Just a little deviation from the norm, that sort of thing.
The difficulty was that I did actually want to get to Swindon, which is perhaps not a sentence people write very often. Indeed, most people spend their lives trying to avoid needing to get to Swindon, and yet here I was, standing outside a closed railway station, regarding it as a cherished destination.
At least I could see the entrance now, it’s a bit like seeing a lifeboat on a slightly sinking ship.
The police told people not to push, although by trying to hear what they were saying they pushed forward. Fortunately, I am sufficiently well built that it is quite hard to push me very far. I have many flaws, but being easily displaced in a railway related crowd is apparently not one of them.
There was more vibrancy to the arrangement at this stage. By vibrant I mean a combination of confusion, annoyance and the need for signage.
So near and so far from entering….
I was let through soon after this and was rather pleased as I did need to get to Swindon at some point as it was getting late and there was no alternative way of getting there as taxis were over £125 and there weren’t any buses. Praise to the British Transport Police and the station staff who were doing their best to manage the crowds and entry onto the platforms with some rather difficult circumstances.
[I originally posted this in June 2018, but have reposted it to fix some broken image links]
We left the Travelodge all refreshed and reinvigorated for the first day of walking. But all walking adventures need to start with some fine dining, so off to the artisan bakers we went…
Here it is, Swindon’s finest baker. Second to none.
The door situation was confusing, so I let Steve work it out. I also didn’t want to look too desperate by running into Greggs, although that was how I felt…
Here he is at the counter, busy adding things to his order and holding up mine. But my time came, and I got a delicious chicken bake and latte, enough to suffice me for a few hours. We also brought dinner here, as there’s unlikely to be anything as good later on.
So the morning has started off in a lovely manner, it’s now off to the bus station ready to get the bus to Avebury.
[I originally posted this in June 2018, but have reposted it to fix some broken image links]
Our final pub visit of the day was to the Sir Daniel Arms and it was hard to contain Bev’s excitement. When we arrived at the pub Bev was a short distance behind complaining, so it felt that we were back on the Hadrian’s Wall week…..
I used the app as I didn’t want to wait for the others to faff about ordering. My food arrived before the drink, but I’m very patient and didn’t complain to the others in the group that they were holding up my drinks order. Although my rather lazy approach to ordering meant that I never did see what real ales were available at the bar.
Perfectly acceptable burger at a very reasonable price. My food arrived before everyone else’s, so that was perfect as well, win-win.
Here we all are as a group, team Ridgerats or whatever it was Susanna called us. We still haven’t thought of a group name, I was thinking more along the lines of something involving the word Greggs.
Two photos of the pub interior, it was fortunately quite quiet when we were there.
[I originally posted this in June 2018, but have reposted it to fix some broken image links]
Pub number three was the Hop Inn, which Bev told us was a former sex shop. We didn’t feel it appropriate to ask too many questions. Not through lack of wanting to ask questions of Bev, but because we didn’t really want to know the answers. The Bev Enigma is something that needs to unfold slowly.
This is the first pub that all met up at, so Maggie, Bev, Steve M, Steve, Dave and Susanna were all here, marking the official start of the Ridgeway adventure.
I was delighted with the choices here, some interesting beers and numerous ones that I hadn’t seen before. The liquorice stout sounded positively luxurious, but there was no way that I couldn’t order the peanut butter & banana porter. Despite the ABV, it was very drinkable and there was a lingering and pleasant after-taste of the banana, although I couldn’t get the taste of the peanut butter at all. But, I’d order it again.
We were delighted to see that there was a pizza menu, and we planned to just stay here all night. I noticed that the chicaritzo pizza looked particularly tempting, which would have gone beautifully with a pint of stout. Then, horror of horrors, they announced that they had just three pizza bases left. I worked out that as there was seven of us, that would mean that after I had a pizza to myself the others would have just one pizza between three people. This clearly wasn’t sufficient, as one member of our group can devour an entire pizza in one mouthful (not me), so we had to make the sad decision to move on. Which meant I never got to try the liquorice stout….
The interior of the pub, very on-trend and contemporary, and very much my favourite sort of pub. Of all the pubs we got time to go to in Swindon, which was only four, this was my favourite. But, onwards we marched to pub number four for food.
[I originally posted this in June 2018, but have reposted it to fix some broken image links]
Second pub was the Beehive, a Greene King pub located on Prospect Hill in Swindon. The welcome was friendly and there were six real ales available, a wide selection for a relatively small pub, although there was nothing which looked particularly interesting for my own preferences. So, it was time for a little cider instead.
There were four rooms in this Victorian pub and a central bar. It had a slightly quirky and interesting interior, and it didn’t feel too mauled about and modernised.
The crisps were three months out of date, but the quality of Monster Munch doesn’t diminish and they tasted fine 🙂 Mind you, we had been tempted to come to this pub by the mention in the Good Beer Guide that they had free crisps, something which wasn’t happening when we got there. If they had been, it is quite possible that we wouldn’t have left….
The cider selection.
Beer notes, which I know Greene King encourage, but many of their pubs don’t provide them so willingly.
Dave and Steve, getting on well with the locals.
Then our quiet was shattered, in marches Bev, complaining that we’re not in the pubs she has gone round looking for us. Before she comes to sit down with us, we discover that she knows half the customers in the bar, reminding us that she used to live down the road.
Actually, this turned into a feature of the whole evening, Bev walking around like she was on a farewell tour of Swindon. Locals fêted her, some confirmed they were related to her and there was a real feel that Bev had made a substantial impact on Swindon during the year which she lived here. If the walls of Swindon could talk, what stories they would tell…
After a second pack of Monster Munch (these ones were in date), it was time to move on to the next pub. Bev had discovered that a former sex shop was now a pub, and that was where she wanted to go.
[I originally posted this 11 June 2018, but have reposted it to fix some broken image links]
We thought for our pub visits in Swindon that we should rely on the Good Beer Guide, so many thanks to Nathan for sending the details of pubs which were listed.
The Savoy, which is a JD Wetherspoon pub, had made the cut and so we thought we’d go there for a quick drink and small snack.
There was a pleasant external beer garden area, although Bev later complained about the locals when she went to examine the clientele…… This was our last chance to talk about the others before they turned up, so we made sure that we took advantage of that opportunity.
Since the devastating removal of pastrami bagel from the menu, the chicken wrap will have to do….
A lovely pint of Guinness, although perhaps not perfectly poured…
There were nine real ales available, an impressive number, and they were well selected with some interesting options. The stout had a rich and pleasant flavour, with the price of £2.29 being particularly appealing. The service at the bar was also engaging, with the team member being willing to offer samples and she happily discussed the options available.
Interior of the pub, which is a former cinema that originally opened in 1937 for ABC. It was redesigned in 1973 to add a pub at the rear and was taken over by Cannon in 1986, before closing in March 1991. It re-opened as a JD Wetherspoon pub in February 1996.
Address: Basset Down Golf Club, Basset Down, Swindon, Swindon
Local Council: Swindon
I haven’t yet visited this pub, but maybe sometime soon….. When I do, this text will disappear and my ‘fascinating’ comments about the pub will appear instead.
I also don’t have an interview with anyone from this pub, but if they want to take part then please do contact me. It’ll also be an effort to update this database with pub closures and updates, but I’ll change the details of anywhere that I’m contacted about. I’m updating on a regular basis new pubs and also removing venues which are clearly more restaurants than pubs. And the pub that I’m saddest about closing is Goose Island in London which shut its doors in late 2022…..
This project is I accept entirely unachievable, namely trying to visit not only every Good Beer Guide pub in the country but having a fair crack of trying to visit as many pubs as I can. But, I have to start somewhere and here is where we’re starting. The image in the photo is from the Phantom Brewery Tap in Reading.
