Old Town: Strange brews will be bubbling up in a former shop in Old Town.

Brewer Tom Gee runs the Hop Kettle Brewery on the Hawksworth Industrial estate in Rodbourne. It supplies the Red Lion in Cricklade and drinkers can visit the brewery tap room.

Now Tom will be cooking up and selling experimental beers in a new bar and brew house in a converted shop in at 51 Devizes Road.

He has been given permission for the conversion by Swindon Borough Council. As well as selling the new beers in order to see whether they merit major production, Tap and Brew will sell other ales in the range as well as souvenirs and there will also be a chance for beer lovers to learn how to make their own at a brew school using the professional equipment.

Old Town: Another shop in Old Town will be changed to the delight of drinkers. Half of the imposing brick Post Office building in Victoria Road will become a pub. Planners have approved the proposals by A Domenico to convert the southern half into a bar. A previous plan to split the shop in two has already been given the green light.

Mr Domenico’s application says the front of the building will not change.

Highworth: A new specialist care home for children and young people with learning and behavioural difficulties will open in Highworth.

The large family home at Highlands in Swindon Road in the south of the town will be converted as a care home for four children between the ages of seven and 17 after Park Blue Homes’ application has been approved.

The specialist care company says it will have between 10 and14 staff to look after the children, with three to five every day and up to two in the evening, as well as staff on site overnight.

Rodbourne: A new chicken takeaway will be coming to Rodbourne Road. A Pratheepan has been given permission to convert the barber’s shop on the corner with Thomas Street into the food outlet. He will install a flue from the roof to ensure cooking smells do not affect neighbours.

Blunsdon: A single-storey shed at the rear of Blunsdon House Hotel, designed for the storage of equipment by the hotel’s groundskeepers has been approved. Neighbours whose houses back on to the land had objected saying the building was out of keeping with the area.

Highworth: The hopeful developers of a new estate of 250 houses to the south of the town will have to produce an environmental impact assessment.

Gladman Developments are looking to build the homes on farm land on Shrivenham Road on the very edge of the town. The assessment of how the development will affect the local environment has been demanded by planners at Swindon Borough Council.

Railway Station: Great Western Railway, which leases and runs the town’s railway station, has been given permission to upgrade its passenger information boards on every platform and in the concourse of the station.

Gorse Hill: Two adjoining houses, which have both been converted into seven-bedroom shared houses of multiple occupation have been granted retrospective planning permission. Premier Properties Swindon owns both 146 and 148 Cricklade Road, and Shaun Horwood’s application for the consent had no objections and has been approved.

Hinton Parva: If you’ve ever fancied living in a real as opposed to a metaphorical pigsty, here’s your chance.

John Osborne, who lives in Fernham, Oxfordshire had been given permission to convert two barns to the west of Swindon into houses, and one of the structures has previously been used as a home for pigs.

The other is used for the storage of hay and machinery.

The barns are on land at Bostwicky Bridge on the Bourton Road between the village near Shrivenham and Hinton Parva near Wanborough. The former pig barn will have three double and one single bedroom and the other barn four double bedrooms.