The Langham Blue Bell

The Bell at ‘14 East Street’ was opened for business some time in the early 1600s and has been operating more or less continuously ever since. At some time prior to 1915 or so the name was changed to The Blue Bell, as can just be seen from this image:

Click on any photo to enlarge

A 2008 photo of the pub sign shows it actually depicting a bluebell:

Image credit: Ian Capper; licence

An incomplete list of former publicans with their dates of tenancy:

John Massingham (died 1639)

1781–1785 Mark Massingham

1789 John Carrington

? Early 19th century: William Nelson

1790??–1847 James Massingham, listed in the 1822 Census as ‘publican and baker’, aged 52 in 1841, became an agricultural labourer by 1851. (An Edmund Massingham was the pinder appointed in 1827)

1851 Thomas Bird (aged 38 in 1851, when he also worked as a gardener); the electoral roll of 1885 lists Thomas Charlton of Fakenham as the owner at this period

6.2.1886 Edmund William Loades (spelled ‘Loads’ in Kelly’s Directory)

3.11.1919 Mary Loades

8.2.1946 George Henry Rogers

31.3.1950 Fredrica (spelling?) S Rogers, granddaughter of Edmund Loades, retired aged 78 in 1972

1956 Maggie Loades and Enid Gravelling; Enid Gravelling died in 1956

1972 Maggie Loades

1972–1996 Victor and Myrtle Newman, assisted by their daughter, Bridget; but Victor died in 1994 aged 75; inquest held 10 March, 1994. Myrtle retired in 1995

1996–16.8.2013 Pat and Bridget Newman; Patrick Newman, the eldest son of the Newmans, died in 2010; Bridget Newman announced her retirement in August 2013

2013–2023 Jason Mitchell, landlord; Abby Laura Wilson and Dominic Wilson. (In 2022 Tom Packard was listed as general manager.)

At one time a Union flag was displayed behind the bar. It was originally flown by the wildlife film-maker and photographer Cindy Buxton, once a resident of Langham, and her assistant, Annie Price, on the island of South Georgia during the Argentine invasion in 1982.

The building is Grade II listed; in 1997 the adjoining cottage was incorporated into the pub to provide a dining area.

The beer-garden is large and sunny and has a children’s play-house:

The Cutmore-Scott family, the owners of The Harper hotel in North Street, decided to take over the lease and right up to the opening day, 26 May, were very busy, redecorating and refurbishing in a style best described, perhaps, as shabby-chic, informal and up to the minute, in keeping with a seating arrangement designed to encourage conversation and socialising. The restaurant has been retained and, like the bar, benefits from the synergy between pub and hotel, helping to train the mostly young staff for successful careers in the hospitality trade.

The institution of the public house has for centuries traditionally been at the secular centre of British communal life. A pub is somewhere to go and drink, of course, but it is also much more, a place where people randomly come together and put the world to rights. It is a place of communication outside the official sphere, a place to make new friends and meet old ones.

Recent years have had a devastating effect on the pub trade. The smoking ban of 2007, the beer duty escalator, general impoverishment of the pub-going classes since the 2008 financial crash, the lockdown policies of 2020, and now the cost of living crisis – not the least of which is due to ever-increasing business rates necessarily being passed on to consumers – have all conspired to accelerate the decline of Britain’s pubs. According to this article, more than 150 pubs closed permanently in England and Wales during the first three months of 2023; during the whole of 2022 only 386 were lost.

Jason Mitchell and Abby and Dominic Wilson did their valiant best but were unable to withstand these forces. The decision by the Cutmore-Scotts to invest in and re-open the Blue Bell – never mind about the Anchor at Morston, which they have also re-opened – can only be seen as brave, if not defiant. It deserves our support.