The Tap & Barrel, Swindon

An Irish pub near the County Ground, in an area with little else pub-wise. The inside is an opened-out V shape with a fairly decent feel - cream banquette seating, low beam bowed ceiling and a ton of Swindon Town memorabilia. It all fell apart at the bar which had just multi-national keg offerings, so I went for what should have been a home banker in the Guinness; but what I got was a far cry from the real deal - a dark red thing with not much in the way of taste at all. Who knows what it really was but if Guinness really are churning this out as standard then I'm in trouble in these kinds of places going forward.

The Tap and Barrel is a long and thin L shaped Irish themed pub. Directly to the right of the entrance is a small stage area for live music which is hosted here weekends. Televisions are located throughout for showing Sky Sports and I spotted a jukebox which was off. During my recent Thursday afternoon visit the handful of boisterous locals were watching horse racing. Seating runs up the left of the pub where a pool table and dartboard can be found. Another dartboard is located behind the right of the bar where access can be gained to an enclosed tarmacked beer garden that houses some picnic tables. As my visit was four days before Paddy’s day the pub was decked out in green. I got the sense that it can get very lively in here.