A Swindon brewery thrived for more than 25 years before collapsing into administration.

Mark Wallington founded Archers Brewery in a former Great Western Railway shed on the Station Industrial Estate along London Street in June 1979.

Brewing ceased there in 1996 as the brewery moved to Penzance Drive in what is now The Weighbridge restaurant.

Originally, the site was a re-creation of a Victorian tower brewery in the old Swindon Locomotive Works weighing house.

The tavern-ready tipples received great acclaim over the years.  Its Best Bitter was crowned Britain’s second favourite by visitors to the CAMRA Great British Beer Festival in December 1981, just over a year after the business first opened.

At the time, the brewery supplied 45 pubs and clubs with booze.

CAMRA’s Ron Harrison presented Mark Wallington with an award outside The Glue Pot after Archer's Golden received first prize at a beer festival in November 1995.

Earlier that same year, Mr Wallington received another honour from Bob Keech, landlord of the Old Nick in Wootton Bassett, for the best beer of Beer-ex 94.

In the late '90s, Mr Wallington sold the company to Burns Leisure.

Sadly, after that sale, Archers went into administration twice before closing for good in March 2009.

Still, staying in business for more than 25 years is a commendable achievement. Photos from the Adver archives show the heyday of this homegrown success story - take a look!