Part of our Best Pubs in London microsite. Is your local listed?
The Bell is a particular species of City pub that was once so common but is now a dying breed. It's basically a small, wooden room with sundry brass knick-knacks hanging from the ceiling, optimised for a standing crowd of City workers, and closed at weekends. It's not much, but it's everything.
The Bell has, perhaps, a little more charm than some of the other pubs of this genre. Its Grade II-listed walls are convincingly half-timbered and nicotine stained — almost certainly pastiche, though it looks the part. A chart on the wall shows a pedigree of landlords going back to Edward Mosse in 1678. "All earlier records were lost in the Great Fire," it reckons. The Bell can therefore be considered a little-known wildcard addition to the fractious "What's the oldest pub in London?" debate.
The beers and wines are limited to mainstream choices, but nobody comes to a place like this to sample the latest small-batch craft ales. If the downstairs is getting a bit crowded, consider heading up the staircase, where a cute upstairs room provides a handful of tables.
