Arkell’s and Edmont celebrate ‘topping out’ at Tadpole Garden Village pub

Arkell's Brewery and Edmont say they are proud to celebrate the completion of the first phase of works on Arkell's newest pub, The Strawberry Thief.

The Strawberry Thief, located in Tadpole Garden Village, has seen a traditional 'topping out' ceremony to mark the successful completion of its first phase of construction. 

‘Topping out’ traditionally takes place when the last piece of the roof or the highest point in a building is installed, with the builder, or in this case brewer, putting an item of some significance in place along with the final part of the roof.

For this ceremony, the highest point and location for the ‘topping out’ was the building’s chimney stack. Arkell’s have built a number of pubs over their nearly 180-year history, and the family tradition has always been to include coins and a lucky beer bottle top as part of their topping out ceremonies.

Attending the ‘topping out’ ceremony from Arkell’s Brewery, George Arkell, Managing Director, said: “We are really pleased to have reached this key stage in the construction of our brand-new pub, and it is lovely to be able to celebrate this long-held tradition of laying the cap stone on the top of the chimney.

"We have built many pubs across Swindon over the generations, and we can’t wait to add The Strawberry Thief to our family of nearly 100 pubs. We are looking forward to seeing the next stage of the build, as the inside of the pub comes to life, and we can’t wait to welcome the community of Tadpole Garden Village for a well-deserved beer in June, having been waiting so long for their pub to be built!”

Also in attendance were the Edmont team, who are the lead contractors for the whole project, and Ian Maslin from architectural practice Clark & Maslin.

Edmont Managing Director, Craig Morton, said: “We are pleased to have reached this important milestone and would like to thank the whole Edmont team who have worked tirelessly to get us to this point, supported by local subcontractors from in and around Swindon providing groundworks, stonework and roofing. We look forward to continuing to work closely with Arkell’s to complete the build on their new pub.”