The Bell, Bath

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.

Large bar with open plan, split level area. Traditional with hops on the ceiling. The emphasis is on live music and lively background music, its probably a little basic for it.