Village Pub | The Royal Oak
Any pub is fundamentally important to the fabric of a village’s community and The Royal Oak at Swallowcliffe is no different. The pub; a grade II listed building, some 400 years old, had suffered the same fate as many others and seemed destined never to serve another pint, that was until a consortium of locals came together to embark on a significant refurbishment. The consortium looked to deliver an amenity back to the village which met with the wish list of many former regulars.
The works required extending and completely refurbishing a building that had fallen into disrepair and also needed a replacement waste water treatment system to treat the typically strong foul waste generated. A design for a 60 population Bio-Bubble Advanced Aeration unit was agreed to by the members of the consortium with local expert contractors M J Abbott tasked with the civil installation of the concrete tank chambers next to the spring fed stream running past the pub. The design enabled weekly peaks and troughs in flows and loads to be balanced out over a 7 day period averaging out the amount treated daily by the Advanced Aeration Sequenced Batch Reactor so that some of the load from a busy Weekend can be stored and treated on the following quieter days. The use of concrete tank chambers allowed installation of the system under the car park so that land take was at the absolute minimum. Thanks to the local Consortium once again The refreshed Royal Oak will enhance the centre of Swallowcliffe an AONB nestled between the Cranborne Chase and the West Wiltshire Downs. We are pleased to be one small part of this worthwhile project.
