Old Road Tavern, Chippenham

Jamaican-owned backstreet pub close to the station and accessed from either Old Road or using a cut-through from New Road into the pub garden. Inside, there are 3 small rooms. Two have access to the bar, with 3 handpulls on either side. A third room leading off to the gents' contained a pool table. Most customers appeared to be in the garden, whilst the pub dog was wandering around looking as if he'd gone for a swim somewhere. The pub's 4 regular beers are Marston's 61 Deep, Exmoor Ale, Stonehenge Danish Dynamite & Bath Gem. Guest beers on yesterday's visit were Wadworth Burnt Orange & Brain's The Rev James. I went for the Danish Dyanmite, which was a decent way to round up by rather hot visit to Chippenham and a few other pubs in Wiltshire. This one would certainly be on a list of pubs to re-visit.

Just over the ‘wrong side’ of the rail station, this is a traditional locals pub with a bit of atmosphere and a number of interesting characters. Two rooms with a central bar as well as a big rear garden with impressive home-made set of chipboard snugs. Plenty to catch the eye inside, with a blue and white colour scheme underneath all the knick-knacks. Obviously likes its music, with a 60s soundtrack on the go. GBG-listed and three ales on; Otter Bitter (NBSS 1.5 – apples) grudgingly exchanged but not taken off, the replacement of Bath Gem was pedestrian (NBSS 2) with Stonehenge Bustard the other ale I decided I had no motivation to sample. Nice pub, shame about the beer – a Chippenham speciality. The local CAMRA branch must have a tough time on a night out. Or they have very low expectations.

Wonderfully unspoilt or a bit grotty, depending on your point of view, but something of a classic and the only pub remaining on the north side of the railway. A rather jumbled layout of half knocked-through rooms lies around a small central bar, with sundry knick-knacks around the walls ranging from a ship's wheel to tennis racquets. A room to one side holds a pool table, the back room has a dart board and a sports TV hangs to one side, apparently only used for specific events not just on all the time. At the back is an unkempt beer garden and a 'barn' available for functions. Th beer range is the main draw though, with the six ales at time of visit being Bath Gem, Otter Ale, HPA, Robinsons Pint of Thrones, Stonehenge Danes Revenge and Summer Lightning.

Traditional town pub, slightly hidden away since the road layout was altered for Mr Brunel's new-fangled railway, but subsequently quite handy for the station. It retains a multi-room layout, with small lounge and public bars on either side of the compact central servery, with another small (partially opened-out) room at the back housing the dartboard, and another in a side extension of some age. Bath Ales Gem, Otter Bitter, Summer Lightning, Wye Valley HPA, Prescott Grand Prix (£3.90) and White Rat cider divided equally between the bank of three handpumps on each counter. Well worth seeking out.