History of The Bell By The Green

The trade directories for Devizes trace the public house back to 1822 when individual houses were first listed .The two directories before this time are very basic and do not include the inns. “The Book of Devizes" by Edward Bradley states that The Bell at Bedbrough now known as Estcourt Street was built on the land of Robert Drew of Southbroom by 1632.

The front of the house faces a picturesque pond which is known to locals as The Crammer. This was used to hide smuggled barrels of rum etc in the days of old .The green is used for many things throughout the year such as fairs, circuses, dog shows and a variety of events. The beer is delivered by two shire horses on a Friday.

Paul & Lesley McDonald

Paul & Lesley moved to Devizes October 2004 from Solihull, Warwickshire. It was a complete life style change for them and their family; Paul had worked as a retail manager for the last 20 years and Lesley was a civil servant. Their two children Ashley (14) and Rebecca (12) also found a big change - after attending a large city school they enrolled at the Devizes school leaving their home, friends and family in the midlands. They also brought their pets along – William, who is a boarder collie rescue dog, Charlie and Chester (two rescued cats), Freddie, who is a female goose (they discovered this when she laid eggs 12 months after being named!) and their two rabbits Flopsy and Fronize.

"When we arrived, The Bell by the Green was tired and in need of a face lift and a change of style.
We did not want to rush in and started changing things straight away. We started with the kitchen, had a new one installed and are constantly striving to create new menus whilst still catering for all palettes, from the light bite to a three course main meal. We have also introduced a vegetarian menu.

One of the Shire horses which delivered our beer unfortunately died. His name was Buscot, so when we decorated the function room we renamed it the Buscot Suite. A local group of lads approached us who were breaking into the music promotion scene. ‘Sheer Music’ were interested in holding music gigs in the Buscot Suite. We decided to work together, attracting young hopeful musicians from the local area. This is now a regular event on a Friday night, and has proved to be popular. We are trying to cater for all ages and have arranged Elvis, Soul and Comedy nights. We also brought artists from the midlands to add to the variety.

We are trying to appeal to all ages, and we hold “Sunday Fun Days” which involve the whole family. We adopted a local charity – “Naomi House” – and started a weekly raffle as well as holding Fun Days for families to attend. In our first year, the proceeds from these events totalled £1000, and we had the pleasure of presenting the cheque. This year we are supporting the Bath Cats and dogs home, and we’re holding different events weekly.

We are in the process of having the garden landscaped and installing a water feature. The pets corner is also being refurbished as this was done temporarilyy for the animals when we first moved down.

The Bell by the Green serves the local and visiting community with locally brewed ales, national beers and lagers. It is home to Darts, Football and Skittles teams. We have two skittle alleys which are used weekly by our teams and by people who want a party with a difference.

Sky T.V has proved to be very popular, showing a full range of Sky Sports and music channels.

We also provide clean and comfortable rooms which we have recently refurbished, and we provide bed and breakfast ."