|
By 1867 the business had even outgrown the new brewery and John was forced to convert the old Kingsdown Inn into offices and build a new pub across the road. Yet the expansion was still gathering pace and John was to buy up another 20 pubs in the next ten years. Acquisitions reached a peak with the addition of three pubs in one year (1877) and a further seven by 1881. Now the majority of the expansion was aimed firmly at Swindon.
Sadly, John Arkell was to see his tied estate grow no more. He died on 21st October, 1881, much mourned by a local community who always knew him as 'Honest John'. The Swindon Advertiser noted that shops were closed and blinds drawn as the funeral cortege passed to Stratton Church and added: "He was open and above board and Radical in all he said and did. The poor had lost a good friend, a plain and simple friend."
Despite his loss, there was no question of the brewery floundering after John's death. After all, he had built his business on solid foundations and strong and fair principles which would be passed down from generation to generation while the business remained tightly in family hands.
Sons Thomas and James took over and Arkell's continued to expand, still focusing on the boomtown of Swindon. The pubs would serve both Arkell's and the community well as the railway works headed for its heyday after the turn of the century.
Arkell's mainly bought up pubs thrown on to the market when rival breweries folded. It was the company's ability to not only survive but also to thrive when other smaller breweries were closing or facing takeover that has been perhaps the most remarkable feature of the story.
 |
 |
 |