[The Bell Inn team]
The Bell Inn
Angel Row, with The Bell Inn centre
The Bell Inn's version of its history
In 1638, half of The Bell -- then two buildings joined together
by a common passageway -- was given in the will of Alderman Sherwin
to the poor of the three parishes: St Mary's, St Peter's, and
St James. From 1820 to 1836, the innkeeper was William Clarke, who, upon marrying the widow who owned the Trent Bridge Inn,
left The Bell and founded the famous Trent Bridge Cricket Ground.
Trafalgar Day, 21 October 1898, was the day when Joseph and Mary Jackson acquired The Bell Inn and moved from their off-licence in Palin Street in Radford, starting a century of innkeeping by the family at the ancient inn. They paid £12,500 for the freehold, a huge amount for their resources, but a tremendous investment.
Immediately Mary started 'market dinners', prepared in a basement kitchen and served in her Market Dinner Room on the first floor -- two courses and a pint of Nottingham ale for one shilling. After Joseph died in 1913, Mary kept the inn on her own through the First World War until her death in 1923. Due to a quirk in her will, the inn had to go to auction, but Robert -- the youngest of her seven children -- secured it for the family for £26,000.
Robert resolved to develop the inn, while maintaining its essential character, by glazing in the bar at the rear, together with the open yard, to form Nottingham's Premier Snack Bar -- a startling innovation for the city in 1928. He married in 1930, but tragically died in 1934, the year after his son David was born.
His widow Dorothy was determined to keep the inn within the family and see it pass on to the next generation. Like her mother-in-law before her, she managed the inn on her own during the Second World War -- a tremendous challenge. However, despite a 'stick' of bombs dropping in the road outside in 1940, she managed to keep the inn open throughout the war.
David joined his mother at the inn in 1953, following National Service, and started a programme of renovation and development. This included turning the first-floor family accommodation into the Belfry Restaurant and function room. Keen to expand the business beyond the inn, he acquired a tiny off-licence in Netherfield, which has now grown into a wine-shipping and beer, spirits and soft drinks distribution business: Midland Wine in Nottingham and Moores Wines in Coventry, now directed by his sons Simon and Nicholas.
In 1975, another son, Paul, joined his father and grandmother to run The Bell. In 1984, when Dorothy died at the age of 82 in her 50th year as licensee, David invited his fourth son Richard to manage the inn with Paul. This marked yet another period of renovation and development, culminating in the acquisition (in 1991) of property at the rear to increase the size of the Snack Bar by a third. The Jacksons are celebrating their centenary at The Bell by marketing special beers and wines -- and taking part in History Hunters.
Taken from Jacksons' Centenary: Bell Inn 1898-1998 -- A Century of Innkeeping.
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