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By 1900, Arkell's owned more than a quarter of the pubs in the Swindon area and was firmly established as a cornerstone of life in the town, which was now almost unrecognisable from its humble status of 60 years before.
But there was a limit to how fast Arkell's could expand and the latter years of Thomas and James' management of the brewery saw a period of consolidation of the tied estate. When Thomas died in 1919 at the age of 80, the brewery had bought no new pubs in two decades, though another five were added to the chain before James, aged 75, passed away in 1925.
Arkell's became a private limited company in 1927 with all shares owned by the family - as, indeed, is the case today. Now at the helm were James' sons, Thomas Noel (later Sir Noel), James Graham and John Oliver Arkell.
By now the brewery was over 70 years old and it was time to modernise, so the 1930s saw the closure of the maltings and the opening of a high-tech bottling plant which employed up to 25 people. The period also saw the foundation of a mineral water plant which gave birth to the fondly-remembered Ace brand of soft drinks. Meanwhile, the new brewery chimney was added to the Stratton skyline for the first time.
Despite the slow recovery period after the Second World War, a handful of new pubs were added to the Arkell's estate and, in 1954, Peter Arkell, the eldest son of Sir Noel, joined the company as a director.
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