After almost ten years, Trowbridge's Sir Isaac Pitman pub is coming back

A familiar face is set to return to Trowbridge town centre, with plans underway to reopen the Sir Isaac Pitman after nearly a decade closed.

The former Wetherspoon pub, on Market Street with its entrance inside Castle Place, shut its doors back in April 2017 and has stood empty ever since. Now a new team is restoring and modernising the interior, with the aim of welcoming customers back sometime this summer.

The venture is being led by Sam Dean of Birdhouse Wiltshire Ltd, who has assembled a team to bring the old pub back to life. The operators say they are still finalising the interior, and full details of the reopening date and what the pub will offer are expected in the coming weeks.

The news has gone down well locally. Residents have welcomed it warmly on social media, describing it as brilliant news for the town, and the local Wiltshire councillor for Trowbridge Central added his own enthusiasm for the return. There's a note of hope in there too, with some keen to see the reopening form part of a wider lift for the town centre.

The pub's name is a nod to one of Trowbridge's most famous sons. Sir Isaac Pitman was born in the town in 1813, the son of a textile worker, and spent his early years in the local woollen mills before training as a schoolmaster. In 1837 he devised the phonetic shorthand system that still bears his name and went on to be used around the world. He was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1894 and died in 1897, aged 84.

For now, Trowbridge will have to wait a little longer, but after almost ten years, the doors are nearly open again.