Bell House is the building on the left; white with blue windows and door. You can just see the wall to the left of it that still exists. It looks small from the front but it goes back further than the building next door and its' garden. My Mother painted this from memory but it is as I remember it.

Nita Kennedy.

The above picture taken from Google maps, May 2009, shows from left to right numbers 1 to 11 Robert Street, so i am going to assume the Bell would have been situated somewhere in this area, with it's Bowling green next to it.

From an email received, 10 February 2017.

Hi, my Grand Parents owned this property and I do remember it. At the time, the back of it was probably original and the front rearranged. It had an an ally way down the side of it and starting at the back, it had a large 'bathroom with doorways at two ends. Then there was a large kitchen which butted up to a sitting area with a large open fire with a huge surround with seats on the corners. The reworked part was the front room which was large and was, at the time used to hold Spiritual Church Meetings in. There was a large cellar which had a window which opened up below street level. The bedrooms were all wood lined and there was, at the very back, supported by metal the columns, a huge room that was said to be a dance hall. It was divided with curtains to make it usable.

In the garden, the columns were evident and there was an outside toilet. As a child, I played with nine pin bowling pins and bowls that had been left there from when it was a pub. The ownership of this property also included the shop next door (were I lived as a child) which may have been built on the bowling green but I have no proof of this. It also included 4 garages and, what our family called The Stores. These areas may well also have been part of the bowling green or they may have been a place for horse and carriages. This property had a range in it and was changed to electric lighting in my family's memory. Therefore, it can't be a very new building.

We do not have any informative photos of the Inn but my Mother has painted a scene of Robert Street which includes, what we called, 'Bell House'.

My Grand father's name was James Marsh as was his fathers, who owned the property before him. This James Marsh died in 1936 so would have brought it before then.

I found it very interesting in your research that next door was a wheelwright. Apparently my Grandfather stored his "Breaks" (a bus type cart used to transport people along the seafront) in the garage space before he converted some of the space to garages; plenty of space to store carts needing wheels. In the end space, which was double the size of a garage, there was a work bench with a machine in it that may have been used to hold wheels. You can also see the double shop front which confirms its' use as a shop rather than just a dwelling.

It is possible that my Great Grandfather bought the properties in 1921 wishing to convert it from a pub to a grocers shop and living space for one of his sons. He seems to have been a bit of a entrepreneur owning several buildings and also buying and training horses. There was also tails of my Grandfather going to London with a horse and cart to buy vegetables. However, when my mother moved there as a child, soon after the 2nd World War, it was no longer a shop.

I hope this is useful.

NIta Kennedy.