On Saturday 23rd September, cast and crew for Ash Mountain Films arrived at the Swan as one of the locations for a short film 'The Gory Hole'. A call for volunteer background characters had been displayed on the bar and was answered by three regulars – Adam, Chris and Ian – and the film crew were well supported by David as the official representative of the Swan.

Filming earlier at the Memorial Hall in Old Windsor had overrun so it wasn’t until after 11 pm that the Ash Mountains crew arrived. The first of the scenes to be filmed was actually the last scene of the short film, where a young woman emerges from the 'cobs' toilet and talks to a second woman making it very clear that the husband of the second woman had strayed but was paying the price for doing so. Filming rarely runs in order so the next scene is a discussion between the husband and the first woman at the bar after which both leave to go to the 'cobs', and that was followed by an earlier scene in the film where the young woman walks into the pub and turns heads – literally a jaw-dropping moment ably demonstrated by Adam and the other background artists spilling crisps and beer (fake beer at that!) down themselves. Finally, the night ended just before dawn with the very first scene of the film being shot in front of the Swan. Luckily before it became very light.

Richard Rowntree, director of the short film, said 'The Swan was perfect for our needs. We wanted a quiet location with a pub that looked like an old pub and the frontage of the Swan meant we could show that without highlighting the name. The space inside was great as well as we were able to move everything to give us space for the camera equipment and place our brilliant extras to make the pub look occupied'. The memorial hall had provided the toilet interior scene earlier.

David was also able to support the actor playing the barman making sure that he knew how to pull a pint from one of the pumps with Ian also supporting on the technical side by knowing how to turn off the fridges when their noise was interfering with sound recording. The film director, Richard, also commented 'my thanks to the volunteers from the Swan for their efforts and enthusiasm, and to Micky for allowing the Swan to be used even if our lighting has totally changed the look of the bar on screen!'hard has also commented that the pub location has a really great look and feel and will be perfect on screen.

Shooting for the short film was completed in 12 hours across the two locations and the film itself will appear in a feature-length anthology film, 'Video Shop Tales of Terror 2: Lust and Revenge' due to be released in 2024. Ash Mountains Films' last feature film was 'Mask of the Devil' which has completed a highly successful year being screened at film festivals around the world and is currently being prepared for distribution on DVD and Blu-ray.

Author: Martyn Payne, Friend of The Swan, Actor and Director.

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