Bell Hotel

The Bell Hotel is a public house located on Walcot Street, dating from around 1750, with alterations made in the 19th and 20th centuries. The building features a rough limestone ashlar facade and rubblestone on the rest of the structure, topped with a single pitched slate roof that has plain eaves and moulded stacks at the gable ends.

The hotel is rectangular in plan, with an addition on the left side. It stands three storeys tall and has five bays, with plate glass sash windows. The stepped arrises and flush surrounds indicate that the moulded architraves have been removed, except for the central window on the first floor. The ground floor windows have splayed reveals, and there is a first floor platband along with a narrow ground floor platband that aligns with a thick stepped flat hood supported by large shaped brackets over a heavily rusticated doorcase featuring a 20th-century door. The original steeply pitched lower roof shape is visible on the returns, and to the right of the door, there is a two-storey plain buttress.

Inside, some chamfered beams and boxed-in beams can be found on the ground floor, while the first floor has plastered beams; otherwise, the interior has been largely opened out. The pub has been extended into the former stable area, and the original brewhouse is now part of the private area. The Bell Hotel is mentioned in council minutes from June 25, 1753, and likely underwent an extension in 1768, as noted in the minutes from June 27, 1768. Despite significant rebuilding, the door surround is a notable example of the local Late Baroque style, which was criticized by John Wood. The upper floor of the building is an addition, and this section of Walcot Street was previously known as Cornwall Street.