Spencers Wood - Village Services

Village Services

• Double's Garage is a petrol station and car mechanic on the Basingstoke Road. It is a business that has been family owned for over 100 years, which started out as a blacksmith and farrier in The Square, the centre of the village. Their original site still stands, although it will soon be replaced by two modern houses.

• Hampshire company Fleet Buzz provide a regular bus service through the village, with buses every half an hour on weekdays and hourly on Saturdays. They are the latest of a plethora of bus companies to serve the village, which started with Cordery's Garage. The prices of the earliest return tickets to Reading were 11d (approx 5p), although for just over double (2 shilling, exactly 10p) a weekly ticket was available. As of November 2011, a single ticket to Reading is £2.90, with a return for £4.30. Reading Buses operate a service to the village on evenings and Sundays.

• The bakery, now operated by Warings, has always been a bakers. Although it is now part of a chain, the bread is still baked locally. Originally, it was one of three bakers in the village.

• The local library is part of Wokingham Borough Council's Libraries. The building was originally an infants school.

• The local pub is called The Farriers' Arms, although it was briefly called The Cygnet when it was purchased by the owner of The Swan (a pub in neighbouring Three Mile Cross). Before the Swallowfield Bypass was built, it was a popular place for coaches to stop on their way to the south coast, so much so that reservations were required. It is a very old business, although originally only a beer house. A full licence was granted after the First World War. In recent times, it has expanded to incorporate two adjacent cottages, making it significantly larger than the original beer house. Originally there were many more pubs in Spencers Wood.

• The Hop Inn is the local off-licence. The building was originally a pub called The Cricketers, although it was one of the village butchers for a while.

• An Indian restaurant has recently arrived in the village. It is not the first Indian business to serve Spencers Wood, an Indian tablecloth and silk tie trader served the village before World War Two.

• A chemist now occupies the building that was Harrisons Grocery Store and Provision Shop. During World War One, it was known as Farleys. The existence of this chemist prohibits the majority of the village population from making use of the chemist at Swallowfield Surgery.

• The Grovelands Garden Centre was a family run business until 2006 when Dobbies Garden Centres took it over. Dobbies has since been bought by Tesco.

• The village post office is on the Basingstoke Road. It has been a post office since 1885, and was a manual telephone exchange until 1934. In November 1992 the post office was the scene of a bloodless armed robbery, no-one was arrested for the crime. The oldest surviving postbox in the village dates from King George V's reign.

• Two hairdressers serve the village. One used to be a harness maker.

• The local builder's merchant, Meakin Building Supplies Ltd, has been established since 1981 in Lambs Lane, prior to which it operated from that site as a haulage company, Meakin Transport. The haulage company moved to Back Lane several years after the builder's merchant began to thrive. The haulage company site in Back Lane was originally known as Judd's yard and was previously a sawmill.

• The village has two areas with allotments.