The Bell, Bath

Large backstreet pub to the North of the city centre, with an unusual floor plan, spanning a wide, open plan room across two distinct halves. The bar is in the right-hand half - a space given a bright colour scheme and a liberally hop-strewn ceiling. The latter helps to give this side of the room a ‘drinker’s’ feel, whilst the décor, which mainly comprises colourful artworks and various musical instruments, adds plenty of character. There’s a small stage to one side of the entrance, clearly used on a regular basis for live music, and beyond, in the left side of the room, there is a spacious seating area with loads more music-themed décor on display. In the middle of the room, the pub runs back a little, through a space with an old bar billiards table which now doubles as a DJ table. More entertainment themed items are on show here, including a TV studio ‘Applause’ sign and various old LP’s that have been nailed to the walls. Out the back is a beer garden with loads of benches, a good amount of shelter and some old gig posters lining the wall of an outbuilding. Old-school hip-hop tunes were playing quietly in the pub and a few people were eating from a decent looking pizza menu. The pub is in the latest Good Beer Guide and had a good variety of cask ales on when we visited - Blindmans Gambit, Hop Back Summer Lightning, Butcombe Rare Breed, Otter Ale, Box Steam Tunnel Vision, Twisted Oak Ghost Town and Bristol Beer Factory Independence. I took a pint of the latter, which was in very good shape and we enjoyed sitting here, watching various characters come and go. This place doesn’t have the cosy ambiance of the nearby Star, but is regardless a good all-rounder, compensating for a less interesting interior by adding in plenty of unusual décor, whilst still maintaining high quality ales and friendly, efficient service. Well worth checking out, especially in conjunction with the Star.

Official site of The Bell - thebellinnbath.co.uk

Official site of The Bell - thebellinnbath.co.uk

Large pub and live music venue, the bar area to the right remains "pubby"in feel. Nine beers were available from fairly local west country brewers, I went for Butcombe Rare Breed which was good enough, the pub had a few punters in on a Tuesday afternoon and led to a decent real pub feel about it.

A large friendly pub with a good range of ales across eight pulls on our visit. The staff were friendly and welcoming and had a nice laidback approach. They were also downloading some good music, which was been played on our Friday afternoon visit. We went for the RCH Pitchfork, which was in decent condition. The right hand side of the pub was quite traditional in style, where as the larger area was less elaborate and served its purpose as a live music and DJ venue.

This is something of a Bath real ale Mecca, having no less than nine real ales on – five on handpump and four on stillage. All seemed to be on some sort of special deal (I didn’t quite figure out the details) but the Abbey Ales Bellringer was £2.40 a pint and I like that very much – both the ale and the price. This is a very interesting pub – quirky one might say – with the beams festooned with wreaths of hops, interesting décor such as maps and the like on the walls, and furnished with only normal tables and chairs. Music is clearly big business here, with a dedicated stage on the left. I saw adverts for forthcoming attractions, such as Mark Morris – Bluetones front man apparently. As the weather was very hot during my visit we spent our visit in the garden at the back of the pub. This is a well cared for garden, with plenty of bench seating, and lots of very interesting foliage about which I won’t go into details. This is a cracking little pub that should definitely be on the itinerary of anyone wanting to visit Bath’s best pubs.