Summoned By Bells

Front door bells......triple sound

At six o’clock from Bourton-on-the-Hill
The bells rang out above the clumps of oak;
A lighter peal from Longborough lingered on;
Moreton-in-Marsh came echoing from the vale...
So gently broke the triple waves of sound
On a still evening of enormous light
That, when they ceased, I almost seemed to hear
From open church-doors village voluntaries
A mile and more away.

from Summoned by Bells - John Betjeman

I couldn’t resist this title, and a bit more Betjeman, prompted by a visit to Tim’s real ale palace, The Six Bells, in the upmarket coastal town of Lymington, Hampshire.
(Warning: the photos in this post are (un)intentionally blurred - do not adjust your devices, or contact your optician....)

The upmarket credentials of Lymington are not to be taken lightly, as Poundland found out when they had to fight objectors who felt their store would 'lower the tone'.  The Six Bells isn’t the grandest of buildings either, in an old furniture shop, though the building had a more relevant earlier life as the Six Bells pub until 1911.
The history is that it was so-named because the old pub was once the haunt of bellringers* from St Thomas’ church next door back as far as 1684 when the first six bells were installed.  Three bells sit in a frame by the front door.
*As Bellringing.org explains: ‘1700s - In the rural areas, standards of behaviour deteriorated with bell ringers described as layouts and drunks. Often locals saw an opportunity to earn a few shillings however this was often transferred quickly from the church tower to the village inn. Any and every opportunity [was] taken to ring, for which the tavern keepers were very grateful.'

The Six Bells, with it’s glazed furniture shop frontage, guarantees a street audience for exhibitionist diners on the lower floor.

Despite this early pub history it now has the shop appearance of it’s immediate past use, with a lower ‘shop window’ level, and stairs up to a balconied upper floor at the rear.  I head for the bar on the upper level.

Unable to hold camera still due to my excitement at the excellent choice of real ales (excluding that ‘mass-produced’ one on the far right, which ironically is the most expensive).

Shoaling fish sculpture

I am greeted by a typical Spoons real ale extravaganza with at least 8 (didn’t count properly) different real ales on offer. No queues and the barman was on the ball asking me what I would like... always tricky when you would like at least 5 minutes to make up your mind.
I ‘ummed and ahhd’ playing for time.....
"This ones very popular" he says pointing to the Lurcher Stout (£1.79).  "Ok I’ll have a pint of that please” and, hoping it wasn’t a sales pitch to move an unpopular beer, I handed over my Spoons voucher and £1.29.

Green Jack Brewery’s Lurcher Stout - settling nicely up the glass.

£1.29!!  in the land of £3.50+ pints - the wonder of Weatherspoons (arise Sir Tim).
Though I’d say it was more of a porter, not really being heavy/strong enough for a stout, it was a nice pint (good/very good).  A multi award winner apparently - latterly the Champion Beer of East Anglia (stout and porter category) 2013.
The Six Bells was busy with a good cross section of  Lymingtonians dining on this Friday evening, though no obvious sign of any bell ringers.   Not wishing to intrude on anyones meal,  I found a quiet table right at the back away from the main groups of diners with a good view down the pub.

Long view to the furniture shop sign

Intrigued by the C. Ford & Co sign on the wall over the balcony I caught the attention of the main waiter as he passed, and asked about it.  ‘Ohh zat is ze name of ze furniture shop beforre.’  he said in an accent and manner that reminded me of ‘Serge’ in Beverley Hills Cop (get out of here! - no reeeally!).
On an adjacent table, was a young woman on her own, headphones on, she was chatting away loudly, occasionally gesturing and waving her glass of  Peroni at the beaming face of her friend on the phone screen.  Night out with a virtual friend on FaceTime must be the new thing.   The language wasn’t familiar - possibly of Scandinavian origin - so her friend could have been a bit too far away to join her (in reality).

Scandi woman having a great night out with eerie blue virtual friend.

The Six Bells is one of two GBG entries in Lymington and clearly does well even in a town full of rich posh folk.  The ‘real ale’ board emphasises this, confirming that 654 pints of real ale were sold last week.  Dryanuary doesn’t seem to have been a huge success in Lymington!

Lymingtonians are a thirsty lot - but having secured a place in the 2018 GBG the sign could do with an update.

So that’s a GBG tick for me - (where did I put that marker pen?) - and my first 2018 Spoons voucher used.  Only another 9 to use before the end of March - I may need to do a mini-tour of Southampton Spoon palaces...

Finally - a photo in focus - obviously I have no problem focussing on a good beer....