Ring o'Bells, Lancaster

Reopened in December 2025 after 4 years of neglect and some issues with intruders,it's a work in progress but has lots of original features.The portico around the front door is attractive and there is good mosaic tiling while the interior is rather worn but has a front snug to the right,a larger seating area to the left with a real fireplace and the bar to the right.On the corridor to the rear room a section of the original wattle & daub has been exposed behind a screen.The rear room has a pool table and darts board before the door to a garden reached by steep irregular stone steps which extends way back .It's all a bit untidy but there are decent plants growing while the metal staircase at the end of the garden is blocked off but may have given pub access for visitors to the chapel behind which may account for the pub name. There is lots of music events here and the team are trying to create a community feel.The welcome was most friendly.Food come in the shape of pies and burritos. Ales on my visit Bowness Bay Fell Walker,Saltaire Titus and Kirkby Lonsdale x Charles Farm Equinox (NBSS barely Acceptable ).Maybe the ales are also a work in progress but I really appreciate the effort to reopen a small town centre boozer and wish the team well for future success.

Facebook page of the Ring o'Bells - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of the Ring o'Bells - www.facebook.com

The pub was sold last year and is now a free house - and still the same, basic locals boozer. Lancaster Blonde and Red on the bar this time. If you want a straightforward pub to meet friendly locals it’s absolutely fine. Hopefully the new owners will resist the temptation to change it too much.

Old-school terraced boozer, formerly a Mitchell's house, with a simple, traditional bar at the front, a plain rear room housing a pool table and a split-level (and slightly decrepit) patio beer garden at the back. Two Lancaster Brewery beers - Blonde and Amber (£3.30, so-so) - available from the four handpumps.