Bell, Puckeridge, Ware, Hertfordshire

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1855, Bell, W Clark, Puckeridge, Ware

Herts Guardian. 10 October 1863
The Old Bell Inn, Puckeridge, in one of the pleasant nooks and corners of Old England, within ten minutes walk of the Braughin station, on the Ware, Hadham and Buntingford Railway, stands what remains of an ancient Inn, called the Bell, at Puckeridge.
There were very few commercial travellers in the old days of coah travelling who had not either seen or heard of this one famous old Inn, which at that period was kept for successive generations by the Cates family, and could furnish a traveller with a glass of the best ale between London and York. Well do we remember the good old times, when 24 stage coaches passed through Puckeridge in the same number of hours, when Wilkins, the driver of the "Bee Hive" daily saluted the ears of the hungry travellers with "Good lunch here gentlemen, reasonable charges",
Oh the good old times then.
When the tables of the Bell groaned under the surloins and rounds of beef, flanked with tankards of foaming ale, and such like old English fare.
The stir and bustle of commercials, huntsmen, sportsmen of all sorts, coach passengers &c &c; when Sukey Barnett gab=ve the mail guard one night by mistake her pockets out of the window instead of the better bags - it being the post office at the time!
Yes, these were the good old days for the tradesmen of Puckeridge compared with the present; and it seems unaccountable that in these times when science, literature and improvements of all kinds are going ahead that this celebrated Inn should be unoccupied for several years; when the Old George which had been discontonued as an Inn for so many years has been revived in a vastly improved appearance, and stands out in bold Elizabethan style nearly opposite. The old Bell is still standing or rather tumbling down with its luxuriant crop of nettles and weeds in front. Yes, the old Bell is dumb, its clapper is mute, and to all appearances without timely aid will soon be levelled with the dust; and we cannot help thinking that if a poor rat or mouse should perchance drop in, one would almost see them with tears in their eyes that even they should find their way to such an inhospitable land of famine.