The South Western: New beginnings for our well-loved pub with Zoe Guild

The South Western: New beginnings for our well-loved pub with Zoe Guild

by Mary Myers, TisTalk

It’s been a while, but everyone’s looking forward to Zoe Guild reopening the South Western Pub in Tisbury early next year, as featured on TisTalk’s 16^th June episode.  Our well-loved South Western pub has been standing empty since 2018. But now, Zoe and her ‘silent partner’ (the man with the money) are going to make a go of it. We hear it will be a gastro-pub with rooms and a beer garden down by the Nadder river.  How lovely!  And about time!

So here’s a bit of history – and I write this certain I will be corrected by those with better memories than me. But here goes…

Back in 1884 the South Western was built as a hotel by local entrepreneur Archibald Beckett, during the Victorian era of railway expansion. Offering several comfortable rooms, a dining area and a pub, the hotel’s position was strategic and it prospered. 

By the mid 20^th century it was downgraded to a pub with letting rooms.  During the First and Second World Wars it served as a meeting point for soldiers from the nearby camps at Fovant and Salisbury Plain and for the Southern Railway line which was vital for moving war supplies, RAF personnel and troops.

After 1945, the South Western was modernised, along with the rest of Tisbury, meaning modern water systems, electricity, and… very probably flushing indoor loos.  However, after the war the heyday of the railway traffic decreased and the South Western declined.

But in 1985 the Wiltshire Brewery Company took ownership and in 1989, Pat Ost (MBE) became the licensee and ran the pub for 24 years.  For many, this was the golden age of the South Western.  Pat was energetic, generous and welcoming.  Real ales, rooms, pool and darts added to the warm atmosphere.  Fund-raising quiz-nights were frequent and  Pat was recognised for her services to charity with an MBE.  (Listen to TisTalk 21^st November 2022 for Pat’s reminiscences). Throughout that time, Pat and Ron (landlord at the Boot Inn on the High Street) maintained a healthy and friendly rivalry.

In 2013 Pat retired and a difficult couple of years followed, with various ideas proposed by local groups, including continuing as a pub or turning it into a community hub and shop.  Then the Coop supermarket chain bought the building but failed to turn it into a shop after a series of planning permission difficulties. 

And now here we are in 2025 and the South Western is to be a pub again, once renovated and repaired.  

It was a pleasure meeting and interviewing Zoe Guild for TisTalk. I was impressed by her youthful energy and passion for hospitality.  A local, brought up in Salisbury, she currently runs the Dog House in Gillingham – formerly The Buffalo.  The Dog House has an olde worlde charm whilst being smart and classy.  Zoe promises to bring the same feel to the South Western. We wish her well.

Zoe Guild at her present pub, The Dog House, Gillingham (photo: Mary Myers)

The South Western Pub in 2018 (above) (image from Facebook)

The South Western today, looking unloved and ready for its re-fit (above) (photo: Mary Myers)