An update has been provided on the restoration of a historic Swindon pub. 

For some time now, The Swindon Heritage Preservation Group has been working hard to bring the Railway Village venue The Cricketers Arms back into public use. 

Member of the public Royston Cartwright has provided regular updates on the project since it began, and he recently caught up with the vice chair of the organisation Bob Wright, who has been hard at work inside.

In a video shared on social media, Bob showed Royston around the ground floor of the Grade II-listed pub, explaining what work had been done and what work was to come.  

In the video, Bob revealed that a new disabled toilet and baby changing area and an additional individual toilet had been installed in the area that used to be outside 'where the horse and carts used to be', with plans to update the existing facilities as and when. 

The corridor down to the plant room now boasts a roof-light and leads to a boiler-room that has been made gas-safe after it was in an 'extremely poor condition'. On the other side of this was a borrowed light window that had to be preserved.

Bob moved on to the pub's former bar area, and said that it was the new grant area that the group was applying for, which they hope to use for events, bringing in schools and parties.

Finally, Bob shows off what he calls 'the lounge', which is a separate hire space or event space within the building. 

He said: "This used to be called the lounge, it was used as a disco, it was used for roast dinners on a Sunday, and we're going to have it as a multiple-use area."

He added: "Overall you can see, usable space ready to go."

Royston was impressed by what he saw and praised Bob and the team for what they had done so far  

He said: "I know the people of Swindon will be looking forward to using it when its opens again after being left for so long.

"[Bob] and [the] team are doing a fantastic job

"At least one building in Swindon is being brought back into use maybe it will help with some of the others."

Initial plans were for the pub to be turned into a shop, community centre and flats.