The Bell, Rochester

An Edwardian town pub with a lively local clientele. On this visit the clientele included two gentlemen from Kent Constabulary who had been invited to observe the local custom of 'putting in the window', a local alternative to darts in which a fence post serves as the projectile. The more sober of the locals were actually quite friendly, as were the staff who seemed a bit bemused by the whole window thing. The single large bar has been formed by conjoining the original bars, there is a pool table next to the broken window, and they host other entertainment including live music and karaoke. Sadly there is no real ale, so there is limited appeal.

The Bell is a big pub with a large front bar area that houses three plasma screens and a projector for showing Sky Sports. By the front door are a couple life sized beefeater figures and against the side wall are life size figures of the Blues Brothers. Behind the main bar is the Laurel and Hardy bar that is quite small and, yes you guessed it, there are life sized figures of the comedy duo. Beyond the L&H bar is a large room that is sparsely decorated and houses a pool table. At the rear of the pub there is a paved beer garden with picnic tables and a covered smoking area. During my visit last Saturday afternoon two of the plasma screens were showing music videos and the third was showing muted horse racing at Ascot. There were only three other people in the pub and one of them was watching the racing so I think that the music was more for the benefit of the woman behind the bar. She was pleasant enough though and although there was no ale available she served me a decent pint of Guinness from the standard draught available. This pub has a worn feel and the advertisements for the disco and karaoke every Friday night and the upcoming ‘back to school’ evening leads me to believe that this isn’t my sort of place. I’d maybe pop for the match if I lived around the corner, but as I don’t I do not envisage a return visit.