It’s almost time. Swanfest 2026 is upon us! The highlight of our events calendar… whats happening this year??!!

Swanfest is returning Friday 14th August to Sunday 16th August. Bigger and Better than ever before. 5 live bands, 1 DJ, kids craft and face painting, World Record attempts and a dunk tank to boot. Lets get down to the details.

Friday 14th August 12noon – 11pm – Beer and Music!

We’ll start the day off with our fresh line up of Guest Cask Ale, Lager and Perry from across the country. Showcasing some incredible independent breweries and hopefully something new for you to try. We’ve got 15 different lines for you to try on rotation. Get in quick though, if you find something you like… that’s the only one we have!

At 2pm we welcome back James Lainey, a superb acoustic guitar and vocalist. James has played here in years, you may remember him from his killer foot pedal and looping system, an absolute artist at what he does.

Our 2nd live band will be at 7.30pm, The Windsor Ukulele Band! Our resident house band smashing out your favourite hits all on the ukulele. If you haven’t seen or heard them before, now is your chance. An absolutly brilliant evening is guaranteed!

Saturday 15th August 12noon – 11pm – Beer and Music!

The beer line up will have changed so make sure you check that out first….! The Windsor Cycle Hub are NOT at The Swan on Saturday, they will be at the Windsor and Eton Brewery 11am – 1pm as a side note!

You’ve heard them before, you’ve loved the music so its the perfect way to kick off the 2pm live music Saturday set. Sharks in the Water are back, soul, rock and funk, something for everyone. A truly spectacular band you can’t miss.

Then at 7.30pm its BackTrack, back again! Swanfest and Bonfire Night staples of The Swan. BackTrack are a fantastic way to dance away your Saturday Night

Sunday 16th August 12noon – 11pm – Beer and Music!

There will be another round of different beers! Don’t miss out!

Who here loves DJ Wildcat Willie? Anyone ever been to one of his Music Bingo sessions?! If not, now you can. DJ Wildcat Willie will be spinning the decks from 1pm – 4pm with a cheeky music bingo or 2 throughout the set. With chocolate and beer up for grabs as prizes, you’d be mad to miss out.

Then at 5.30pm, new to The Swan, The Penny Brass Band! To close off the live music side of the fest, be sure to join us for a final night of great live music.

Everything else over the 3 days…. And there’s a lot more….!

Right… strap in! Aside from live music and beer, we promised you family friendly events too right?! So, from 12noon – 5pm The school room will become the kids crafting zone. From colouring to Creating, theyll be something for everyone to stay entertained. We ask that a parent or guardian remain in the room with their children please for safety, please don’t leave kids unattended.

In the coach house, Jessie’s Fantastical Face Painting are back. Jessie has painted some wonderful faces at The Swan over the years, a proven success. Kids and grown ups cat receive a free face paint from Jessie from 12noon – 5pm (She will be taking a few breaks throughout the session, if we let her!! Jess is my wife…. and really rather pregnant with our second child! Our little girl in their is bouncing around a lot so their may be a couple of unexpected breaks along the way!)

The Dunk Tank… where do I start with the Dunk Tank?! Over the years I have worn some questionably short shorts for that tank! But…. we’re doing it again! This year with a slight difference, instead of it just being me getting dunked at 3pm every day… I’ve roped in 2 of the three directors! Richard will be on Friday, Me on Saturday and Stuart on Sunday! Choose which one of us you dislike the most and dunk us into ice cold water!!

We can’t forget the Great Malteser roll world record attempt can we! Every Swanfest, we roll a Malteser down a tape measure and log the furthest distance, last year we hit 18.9meters! This year… we need to beat that! Sean will be at the mouth end (Not a nice turn of phrase!) and I at the drop line. The Malteser needs to run the distance of the tape and end up in Sean’s mouth… Can we go beyond 20m this year? Find out at 5pm each day over Swanfest.

Have you checked out our merchandise? Stuart (Stuey Vuitton, Stucci, Stugo Boss!!!) has carefully created our entire merch line. He will be with us all Swanfest promoting our Merch so you can order yourself a little something. Maybe our popular ‘Straight Outta Clewer’ T-shirts, Swanfest Promo gig shirt perhaps? Whatever tickles your fancy, check him out. He’s even made Swan branded boxer shorts! Without me going into too much detail… they’re very comfy!!!

Dont worry, weve got you covered for food as well. The Students of The Green Room College (Housed at The Swan) will be cooking up fresh home made Pizza in their oven from 12noon – 8pm all 3 days. if you hav’nt tried these pizza’s, where have you been!? This falls under their enterprise champagne, giving students the skills required to help them get employment after college so please do come and support.

Alongside all of this, we have our regular groups, clubs and events too. We have over 22 community groups at The Swan, Something for everyone so lets get into what’s coming up shall we!

Every Monday – Chess Club at 7pm. All skill sets welcome. Will is an excellent teacher, if not a little competitive so he will keep you on your toes!

Game Masters Of Windsor – Warhammer Every Tuesday at 7.30pm. All welcome. Find GameMastersOfWindsor on instagram

Windsor Ukulele Band Rehearsal – Every Tuesday at 7pm. Our resident house band meet every week to touch up the ukes. In the good weather, chances are high that we will get a live performance as the rehearse out in the cowshed. Grab a wine and listen in.

WTF – Windsor Town Funrunners (I need to be careful abbreviating that eh!?) – Every Wednesday at 6.45pm for a 5k or 10k run. A well deserved pint after the run is needed!

Chatty Cafe – Every Friday 12noon – 1.30pm – Fancy a coffee and a chat? How about a Pint with some people? What ever you fancy, chatty cafe is a safe, friendly and welcoming space for everyone. Trudy and Mirella host the table so keep an eye out for them or pop your chair next to somebody else for a chat. Its that simple and wonderful!

In other news…

We’ve had our mystery visit for The Great British Pub Awards! On Wednesday 5th August, Nicky came in to ‘judge’ us! Without her giving too much away she seemed very happy with everything we do! We had a nice little crowd in so the pub looked bustling and a special shout out to the Gardening Volunteers… She really like the look of the Garden, especially after telling her its all down to our awesome volunteers! Next up I, along with Community Director Stuart, have a teams interview on Monday 24th August for our final round… lets see what happens now at the big event in Leeds in September!

And that’s it for another 2 weeks. I can’t wait to welcome you all to Swanfest next weekend. Please come along and see what makes us the Best Community pub going!

But, to finish… What did the termite say to the bar staff? Is the bar tender here?

See you around the pub

Micky xx