The Blue Bell

A perfectly preserved Edwardian pub on Fossgate, unchanged since 1903 and one of CAMRA's finest

The Blue Bell on Fossgate is a pub that has not been touched since approximately 1903, when the current interior was fitted. Two small rooms divided by an etched glass and mahogany screen, fixed seating along the walls, a tiled floor, a small bar — nothing has been added and nothing removed. There is no music, no fruit machine, no wide-screen television. You order from the hatch or from the bar in the front room, and you sit with your drink in rooms that feel entirely unchanged from the Edwardian era.

The pub is small enough that it fills quickly in the evenings; a wet Tuesday afternoon is the ideal time to visit. The cask ales are well kept and the range is sensibly limited. Fossgate is one of York's less touristy streets, which means the Blue Bell draws more local regulars than some pubs closer to the Shambles. It is listed in CAMRA's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors — a designation reserved for pubs of the highest historical importance.

bars and cafes pub
A story
The Blue Bell's interior has survived intact because it was never fashionable enough to be "improved." While Victorian and Edwardian pub interiors across England were stripped out during the 1960s and 70s for open-plan modernisation, the Blue Bell was too small and too quiet to attract the attention of brewery refurbishment programmes. The two original rooms — divided by an etched-glass screen with a serving hatch — have kept their fixed seating, their tiled floor, and their original bar. The Campaign for Real Ale considers it one of the finest surviving pub interiors in England.

Other places in Bars and Cafes