Bell, Worcester

The pub is part of a late 18th century terrace and has a most unusual arrangement of rooms. The entrance door is in the centre of the pub and opens on to a Victorian floor tiled passageway . There is a hatch from the bar on the left hand wall and a glasses shelf on the same wall which indicates passageway drinking at some in the past. There are two wooden sliding doors at either end of the passage that both lead into the main room, an suggestion that is was formerly two separate rooms. The bar counter with its rustic black & white wood and plaster frontage was installed in the 1980s to replace the previous counter but the bar back with plain wooden shelves and mirror mosaic back appears to be 1960s work. There is fixed seating along the three walls opposite the bar area.

The main claim to fame for this pub however is the two small rooms to the right of the entrance. The first of the two rooms has fixed seating installed in the late 1980s, a small brick 1950s fireplace, and a glazed screen and door separating it from the passageway.

The second room is larger, again with 1980s fixed seating, and glazed screen and door. However, the glazing here is far older with a bowed frontage reminiscent of a Dickensian shop.

The origins of the rooms is unclear but the tale is that there were courtrooms and the prisoners were kept in what is now the pub cellar. Be that as it may they are certainly a rare feature, the nearest comparison being the rear booths at the Bull, Paisley.

The entrance passageway continues to the rear of the pub where there is a very large function room with its own bar and an adjacent skittle alley.