A CLUTCH of real ales – not to mention slices of cake – will tempt customers into a new Swindon pub that is being built from scratch in an empty shop.

The Hop Inn, advertised as a pub for grown-ups, will specialise in beers, ciders and craft brews – including tipples not on sale in the immediate area.

Unusually, the new addition to Old Town ’s thriving night-time scene is being knocked together in a unit formerly used by a sex shop, in Devizes Road.

The pub will not be tied to any brewery or parent company, with owners Jason Putt and wife Karen Griesel having only the landlord to answer to. The couple will specialise in real ales and ciders, but want to offer more than just refreshment.

Mr Putt, 58, said: “We want to be a community pub and one of the things we are going to have here is a book exchange.

“We want the pub to be a social centre, which pubs don’t lend themselves to any more. Even with Wether-spoon, though they have done a fantastic job and offer a good range of products at a cheap price, they are not really places you could call your local.”

Mr Putt, a newcomer to the trade, will launch the Hop Inn at a time when the market for real ale is going through a renaissance.

“We want to try and sell stuff that people can’t get anywhere else in town,” he said.

“We won’t be selling any mass-produced stuff at all.

“We will sell Freedom lager, which is made properly in Staffordshire and, unlike a pint of Carling, has been given time to mature. We will have five hand pumps and some locally-produced ciders.”

The couple, who are aiming to open on October 3, hope to serve the crowds who descend on the Wood Street area by night and as well as customers at the Arts Centre .

Mr Putt, of Stratton , said: “It’s hard work as the place was a bit of a state when we took over, but as I’m going for an industrial-chic look in a way there is a bit less to do.When it’s finished with decor and the offering it will be unique in Swindon”

Other businesses are eyeing up empty units on the same stretch of Devizes Road, with Jamie’s Italian Diner rumoured to be looking to bring the chain to Swindon.