The Bell

Since being taken over by Glynn and Natalie, this nice old pub has been renamed from the Market Trader to its original The Bell, and had its tackiness stripped out (sometimes a little too roughly!) to become a genuine warm welcoming local boozer on the corner of your street despite it’s location near Petticoat Lane and just across from the City of London boundary. It has a mixed and variable crowd from City traders to Creatives, both young and old though as a darker drinking haven rather than fancy eating place, it usually sees more male than female customers. The draft ale is well kept, they serve a range of nuts and the like — they don’t try to compete on price there are pool tables downstairs and a lighter function room upstairs. Cheers!

Been here twice since it reopened. Very nicely done out with
friendly service. Food takes precedence, but there is still room to just drink
a refreshing pint.
Also, sandwiches on the menu, which I always see as a good sign I don’t
usually want a sit down meal when walking.
One of the best pub signs around too! Recommended

Our favorite place during out vacation in London. Cause the were no other tourist around :-)
Friendly staff and always fun with the other guest. Very nice atmosphere. And a little pool table in the cellar

This place gets a decent mix of people in for a city pub. There’s a few students, shop workers, and local office workers around for after work drinks most days.

Had lunch her on Feb 7^th. Pleasant atmosphere and a well stocked bar. My ham, eggs & chips was good vfm at £8.50 (half a dozen or so slices of ham) but £4 for a pint of Bombardier would put me off using it as a local if I lived in the area despite the fact that the club nights hosted there looked good (if you like Sixties Soul and the like). They did at least though have the courtesy to advise by displaying notices that the drinks prices had risen recently due to the breweries increasing costs so more transparent than the unexplained rises you see in most other pubs.

As this pub is 5 mins walk from Liverpool St I was expecting it to be ‘just another City bar’ but it wasn’t. I really liked it. There was mixed youngish crowd, a good range of beers (bottles and on tap), plenty of board games, and no pretentious bar snacks. The décor was just right for me — 80% functional old fashioned pub and 20% eclectic vintage decoration (framed bird prints, maps, cartoons, gold framed mirrors, farrow and ball paint, leather wing chairs). It felt a bit modern and witty in style, but in a genuine, lived-​in way rather than in a cynical chain pub way.

Repost from ‘The Market Trader’
Now called The Bell — with a non humorous «Ding Dong Ring My Bell» emblazoned above the door.
Afraid it looks like a seedy nightclub in its new black garb.
Weird beers and high prices makes this one to walk past as there are so many better places nearby.

This is one of the hidden gems of Spitalfields /​Aldgate. I’m almost in two minds in writing this review as I want to keep this local boozer all to myself! Mur ha ha haaaa (evil laugh).
With an always-​good atmosphere, friendly bar staff, a wide range of music and a good selection of beers, spirits and wines you really can’t go wrong with The Bell. It has a varied collection of people types from the odd suited city worker to the everyday locals mixed with a few inbetweeners and I’m pleased to say you won’t find any try-​hard Nathan Barley types (Shoreditch tw*ts) here! The boozer also has a seated basement area with a pool table and some dark corners if you want to keep away from prying eyes.
I’ve only tried the food here once (English breakfast) and I have to say I did enjoy. They also have a mean selection of pub snacks… I recommend the roast beef monster munch, they’re to die for.
All in all the landlord of The Bell has done an excellent job of making this boozer into a friendly place to hangout and have a good time with your friends while getting comfortably trashed.
I’ve only given The Bell 4 out of 5 stars as it’s not open on a Saturday, but I’ve heard a rumbling that this could soon change.
P. S. Try the chilli vodka… I dare you.

Simple corner boozer that serves a couple of ales and gets busy, but not too busy.
There is nothing horribly wrong here (apart from leaving too much head on a pint of ale) just nothing that would get me come back (unless I had a strange compulsion for a board gameas they have a few lying around). Then again I think this pub changed fairly recently, so might be worth keeping an eye on to see how it progresses.

great pub, good beer, friendly staff, nice lunches. everything a good boozers needs including pork scratchings, chandilers, taxidermy and a lovely pub dog.

Nice stripped out london boozer — had a really lovely late lunch here last week, and stayed on into the evening as they had an acoustic music night going on. Great atmosphere

A work in progress but one being done by the owner who is determined to make the place a great watering & eating hole, not just a profit centre.
The groundfloor bar is now pretty much complete and was a welcoming & friendly place to be last Friday night. A good if long wine list, plenty of beers and a nice looking menu. Currently still looks closed from the outside, but just go in. I’ll be back.

I’ve never been to the pub, but I’m biased because it makes too much noise late on thursday nights with karaōke and keeps me awake till 11.40pm. Therefore I give it a low rating for it’s consideration for local residents. And you lot that come out and sing and shout in the street as if you own the world, grow up. Shame, as I love thai food.

The pub itself is nothing remarkable — friendly enough and traditional London boozer layout. The real gem here is the Thai food that they serve. You can eat downstairs in the pub or upstairs in the restaurant section, which I prefer as they have a nicer selection of beers there. Like most Thai restaurants the service is as friendly as you can get and I think the range of soups, curries and noodle dishes is great. They often have a lunchtime special from Monday to Wednesday; a starter and main course for £6 which is excellent value. Add a drink and tip and basically you’ve got yourself an adult happy meal for a tenner. Worth going to even if the meal deal isn’t on.