The brewery had almost 50 different cask ales and beers on offer, including the Pioneer New Zealand IPA, harking back to Arkells breweries set up in New Zealand by John Arkell’s descendants.

George Arkell, managing director at Arkells, told the Adver: “It’s quite a feat to be here after 175 years. Today is a real celebration, we wanted an opportunity to open our doors to the public to see what we do here, try some different beers, and raise some money for charity at the same time.

“Life has changed over the years, people’s expectations of what they want their beer to taste like have changed, and we’ve all had to adapt to that. Having a young team has meant we’ve been able to do that, brew new beers, run some fantastic pubs, and hopefully we’ll be able to keep Arkells going for another 175 years.

“Being a family business gives you a bigger perspective. Our strength is we appreciate everyone wants something different. It gives us that long-term view to be able to give something a try and see what happens.

Can we expect the next generation of Arkells to carry on the family trade? “Alex and I grew up around the brewery and Swindon. It’s our home. We love doing it. It’s a fun job, and it’s a fun business.

Younger brother Alex Arkell, master brewer, added: “It’s a real honour to see so many people come to join us a celebrate our 175 anniversaries. One of the founding principles that John Arkell put in place when he built the brewery in 1843 is he was very passionate about being a local brewer, making local beer for local people. That’s what it was all about, and that’s what we’ve really stuck to.”

“We are really caretakers of the business, we’ve been lucky enough to have been given it by our ancestors, our times here is to make the business as best as we can and make the beer as delicious as we can and pass it on to the next generation to do the same.

Steve Suttton, from Wroughton, said: “We’re big fans of the beers. It’s an opportunity to try the variety all in one place, which you can’t normally do. It’s great they are still going in the town and remain popular to this day.”

Lesley Dicks, tied trade secretary and organiser of the day, said: “We’re expecting more than 1,500 today. We’ve had buses of people coming up from London. I’ve worked here for 18 years, nobody ever leaves, they’re really good to us. My husband’s the second master brewer and he’s been here 34 years and his dad worked here and his dad before that.