UPDATE: #264 The Bell, Lower Heyford, Oxfordshire : 1998 to 2021

This isn't something that I'd normally do less than two years after the previous visit, but we live in strange times so, why not?

My original report (from September 2019) can be found here. This is what the pub looked like at lunchtime on Sunday 28th July 2019.

Less than two years had passed by and we were back at lunchtime on Sunday 23rd May 2021.

The first thing you notice is that it is busier despite certain restrictions still being in place (and despite the cool, damp weather!). Then you notice the sign which says just 'The Bell' in a more traditional style. And finally, the new owners (I assume!) have removed the last vestiges of the ivy from around the front door.

I certainly wasn't expecting such a complete change of signage in less than two years...that would normally take closer to ten years for a village pub like The Bell. The Sunday lunch was good, the Carlsberg was cold and it felt like a local village pub/restaurant. All-in-all, well worth a visit!

#147 The Bell, Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire : 1997 to 2013 (RIP)

We're back in Stourport-on-Severn again, this time for a quick look at The Bell.

This was our first (and only) visit to The Bell on the evening of Tuesday 27th May 1997. I don't recall much about it apart from it being a normal small town pub.

The Bell is situated away from the main town centre on the mini ring road around the town which probably explains why we never ventured back. This also probably explains why it is now closed. In fact, according to the Closed Pubs website, it closed in 2002 to be converted into flats.

This is how it looked on the evening of Thursday 16th May 2013. We'd been 'stranded' in Stourport, so I took the opportunity to take photos of all the pubs to catch up on their status and, at the time, I didn't realise it had closed as there is still some signage! 

It really isn't a surprise that it closed as Stourport had always been 'blessed' with an over abundance of pubs and The Bell was not on the main drag.

#144 The Bell, Stourbridge, Worcestershire : 1996 to 2013

This is going to be a relatively short entry as I've only ever been in this pub once and that was back in 1996!

 This was on the evening of Monday 27th May 1996 and was our first canal trip into Stourbridge having moored at the end of the Stourbridge Arm. As I recall, we weren't overly impressed with what Stourbridge had to offer the casual tourist. The pubs were functional, but none of them offered food in the evening and I'm fairly sure we ended up with a Chinese takeaway that we ate on the boat.

I've no recollection of what The Bell was like inside, probably typical of the large Banks's town pubs that were around at that time.

We revisited the Stourbridge Arm seventeen years later and surprisingly The Bell was still there, although not open at lunchtime.

 This was on Wednesday 15th May 2013 and at first glance The Bell has hardly changed over the years. On closer inspection, it is no longer a Banks's pub, but from this distance it isn't easy to work out what is going on...if anything.

Having found The Bell's website it became apparent that it is now a music venue/nightclub. Similar to Digbeth in Birmingham, as I've reported in the past, it appears that converting pubs into music venues in towns is a good way of reinventing themselves.