The Savoy, the Sir Daniel Arms and the Dockle Farmhouse are to take part in a 12 day Wetherspoon beer festival running from 7 to 18 October, offering up to 30 cask ales between them, including, for the first time in Swindon, beers from Singapore and Ukraine.
The line-up features five international brews: an oolong tea bitter from China, a pilsner from Denmark, a mango IPA from Singapore, a golden ale from Ukraine and an American beer called Pinball Wizard. These sit alongside more familiar names such as an autumn nut ale from the Cairngorms and a reggae themed bitter from Otter. The manager of the Dockle Farmhouse described it as a celebration of cask ale at good value prices, with most beers brewed specially for the event and five vegan options available. Drinkers can also order a third of a pint, with three samples offered for the price of a pint, and tasting notes supplied through a festival magazine on the app.
It is, in effect, Swindon's first attempt at hosting a full United Nations session, albeit one where delegates are encouraged to order via an app and the only agenda item is coriander.
A council spokesperson was not asked for comment, on the grounds that nobody could work out which committee would have jurisdiction over a Ukrainian golden ale served next to a bag of scampi fries.
"I'm not one to gossip," said Brenda Pask, 72, of Old Town, who has lived there since before it was old, "but I hear they've got a beer from Singapore now, with mango in it. Ron wouldn't have touched it. He thought a shandy was foreign. He drank mild for forty years and called anything with a flavour 'showing off'. Mind you, three samples for the price of a pint, that's the first sensible thing I've heard all week. I'd want it written down though, not on one of those apps. My Ron never trusted anything that updated itself."
Gary Tench, Area Manager at Tench Paper Solutions in Westlea, said the festival had given him a new strategy for the autumn catalogue. "Limited edition, brewed exclusively for twelve days, that's genius marketing," he said. "I've told head office we're doing the same with A4. 'Tench Festival Reserve', three reams for the price of two, available until stocks or morale run out, whichever comes first. We're even doing an international range. A ream from Belgium. Doesn't do anything different, but it sounds better in a meeting."
By Wednesday, it is understood that regulars at the Sir Daniel Arms had already formed firm opinions on the Ukrainian ale, the Chinese oolong bitter and, more controversially, whether the Pinball Wizard from America was named before or after somebody had already had four of the samples.
Organisers insisted the festival was simply about celebrating cask ale from around the world in one room, over twelve days, for a very reasonable price. The Magic Roundabout, asked whether it fancied a third-of-a-pint of something unusual to mark the occasion, continued to go round in five directions and declined to comment.