01/05/2026
"When you take on a pub you're it's custodian. You're not the owner, solely the proprietor. "
My name is Christopher, I was born in Norway, with a father from Ware and I've taken over the lease of The Bell.
The words at the top are those of my mentor. I never really wanted to run a pub... it kind of fell into my lap. I was comfortable working there, so I took it on.
I have worked in the Three Horseshoes - Duton Hill since 2018, and i took over the running of the pub in 2022. It's doing rather well and was included in the 500 best pub's in England last year, as chosen by The Telegraph. It might not sound much, but when you consider that there's more than 40 000 pub's in England, and only 15 of them were from Essex, it made us rather proud.
I certainly wasn't bored, but I was ready for a new challenge. When I was offered the opportunity to run The Bell, I jumped at the chance. I persuaded my friend Jason to join in on the venture. Jason also has extensive experience of the leisure business and we work really well together. Thankfully he agreed and as we have been working to reopen The Bell, we have discovered that we're a really good team, albeit far from the traditional hosts you'd expect in a village pub.
But The Bell is far more than a village pub. It was originally built in 1580 and you can literally feel the history of the walls as you walk through the rooms at night. And its Elizabethan beams, has given me close to a concussion on more than one occasion as I maneuver my 6'1"' aging body around the place.
We're the home of the Bardfield artists! It's in The Bell they met, socialised and planned their open days. This must be celebrated. We're naming each of our bedrooms after different local artists, and the rooms will be decorated with each individuals art prints. Likewise we'll hang prints from this massive era in the history of Great Bardfield, in the main bars.
The building did get extended in Victorian times which is being reflected in the decor. Formerly known as the public bar, the "Victorian bar" is now painted in crimson and Victorian white. What better colours to represent this period albeit we admit to being brave...
The main part, The Tudor bar will also be painted in a colour typical for the period, but which you'll have to wait and see.
It will take us some time to have our vision ready, but considering what we've done in our first 2 weeks as custodians, I hand on heart, believe we're on the right path.
The kitchen will also open soon. We aim to serve traditional pub grub, slightly elevated, at a reasonable price.
The most important thing for us right now is to open the place. The village needs their pub and frankly, we need to start taking some money.
So as soon as the licence is through we will have a soft opening with a larger reopening party once it's all done.
It's down to the council now!
In the meantime, we're starting work on the oldest part of the establishment which is a true honour.
May I take this opportunity to say thank you to the people we've already met, who showed a lot of support for our venture, and to all those we're still to meet... We can't wait!!
We're humbled by the opportunity, and with that the duty placed upon us. We pledge to serve the community well.
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