HRH The Duchess of Cornwall to visit Arkell’s Brewery

The Duchess of Cornwall is set to tour Arkell's Brewery at the end of the month to mark the firm's 175th anniversary year.

The visit, on Tuesday 30 January, forms part of a year of celebrations, including a Beer Festival at its Kingsdown Brewery, on 15 September.

Arkell’s Brewery is Swindon’s oldest business and one of just 29 family breweries left in the UK. It celebrates 175 years in business this year.

Arkell’s Chairman James Arkell, said: “We are honoured to be welcoming The Duchess of Cornwall to our family brewery. It is a marvellous way to mark the start of our 175^th anniversary year.”

The brewery was established in 1843 as an offshoot to the family farm near Swindon, at the same time as Isambard Kingdom Brunel was building his Great Western Railway. Arkell’s beers helped quenched the thirst of workers in the hot locomotive works.

Swindon’s historic railway works may have closed in the 1980s, but Arkell’s Brewery continues to thrive, with four members of the Arkell’s family currently at the helm: Chairman James Arkell; his cousin Nick Arkell, Head of Wines and Spirits, and James’ sons George and Alex Arkell are Managing Director and Head Brewer respectively.

The Arkell family work at the brewery alongside generations of other local families, brewing real ale and looking after nearly 100 pubs across Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Hampshire.

James Arkell added: “Arkell’s pubs sit at the heart of our local communities and they are at the heart of everything we do.”

Arkell’s ales include award-winning beers such as Wiltshire Gold, 3Bs, Kingsdown and Hoperation. The brewery also brews an award-winning lager: 1843. Special ales are brewed regularly, with head brewer, Alex Arkell, keeping the art of craft ale alive, offering drinkers new tastes and flavours.