We meet up with the landlady at The Bell pub, Brierley Hill, which has been saved from the wreck of a building and is now open serving booze and cobs, complete with a rather nicely planted garden too.
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00:00Tracy how are you love, you okay? Yes I'm good, thank you. You're at the helm here at the Bell. I am.
00:05And Delft Road. Yes. It's been empty for a few years hasn't it? It has, yeah.
00:10We were chatting to a few customers then, they're very pleased that it's back open and as a pub, the one chap was saying
00:16when building work started he thought it's gonna be flat but he's pleased to you know come in and
00:21sample your wares. So what's your background then Tracy, where you from yourself? I'm from
00:26around the area, I've always lived very colonial, most of my life, well all my life. So yeah, we've come to the golf pub, it's a pleasure, we've just come here, so yeah.
00:37And what can people expect then who come here to the pub? Nice, friendly, a warm welcome and some good ales.
00:44Cool. And it's, yeah lovely cobs isn't it, we've established that as well. And it's lovely, the way
00:52they've done it inside, it's lovely warm and welcoming isn't it? It's very warm and welcoming, very homely.
00:57Yeah, exactly that, that word there yeah, homely. And you've got your fire, so will they be going in winter as well?
01:02Yes, every day. That'll be nice for you. Nice Christmas feature isn't it? Yeah, yeah.
01:10So what's, you're going to be doing cobs is the order of the day for the food side of things
01:14isn't it? And what sort of drinks you got on then Trace? So we've got Butterbat on, we've got
01:19Lemon Dream on at the moment, we've got Envelope and we've just put Snowdonia on which is a purple
01:26moose brew. Oh we've got, yeah so you've got quite a selection and then it'll be shopping and
01:30changing as well, yeah. And the garden, tell us about the garden, we've had a little look in there,
01:34it's lovely isn't it that planting? It's beautiful, it's very nice, nice having your baskets out there.
01:39It is isn't it, and on the front, yeah yeah. And on the front all the way around, yeah, it's lovely out there,
01:44yeah yeah. So is it, is it independently owned then? Yes, yeah. And I guess that enables you to kind of
01:51be a bit more flexible with what you offer, yeah yeah. So are you ready for the um, the challenge
01:57of running a Black Country boozer? If you'd asked me to, I'd probably not. No I am, I'm excited, it's nerve-wracking,
02:05yeah, it's exciting, emotional, yeah yeah. But yeah, I am excited for it. And you were saying you started
02:12off, you had a job and you just did a little bit of part-time bot work didn't you? Yes I did yeah, that's when
02:16I found my calling. And you, what, you just clicked and thought, yeah. Loved it, loved it. Is it the social side of it?
02:21Yeah I think it is, yeah. Well it looks great in here, we wish you all the best um, in the new venture.
02:29How you doing? Keith and Irene isn't it? How are you? You all right? Not too bad. So we were just having a little
02:34chinwag, you were saying you've been watching the building work going on? I've been watching the
02:38building work going on, we go past here three or four times a week. Yeah. And we've been watching it for
02:43three years and we thought it was going to start as flats. Yeah. And then we noticed they'd left the
02:50windows in at the bottom, I said well they ain't going to leave pub windows in, have they? So you were
02:55pleased to see it coming back to life as a pub? So when I said they ain't, they're going to make it a pub again, and we've been watching ever since.
03:01And the times we've gone by, I says, opening soon, opening soon. Yeah, yeah. Last week it said
03:08opening Thursday the 18th. So what do you think, what you've seen? Lovely. It's nice isn't it? Yeah, I mean
03:17this is the only place, pubs are the only place where you're socialised. Exactly, yeah.
03:24Yeah, it's that bit of community in it still, do you know what I mean?
03:27It's the only way I talk to them, I talk to them like they're a garden, I don't know. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:32Or at least you're mad. Yeah. If you don't come in one of these, where do you go and communicate? Exactly.
03:38And Irene, you've sampled the cobs, what's your verdict? Any good? Are the cobs any good?
03:45Very good. Very good, right, cool. It's just a bit of dialysis, isn't it? You can always eat the cobs.
03:52I shall put it on my radar then, cobs good at the Bell. Oh yes. Cheers Keith, thanks matey, cheers Irene.
03:59Hello folks, how are you? You all right? Fine, thank you. Cool, so we're here at the Bell.
04:05Absolutely. And it looks great, doesn't it? It does, it does, really lovely. Yeah, I mean. Nice inside.
04:10You're local you too, aren't you? We are local, yeah. So you remember the old pub? Yes, yes. Did you use that much or?
04:16We did, yeah. Yeah, now and again. I wouldn't say we've used it a lot, but yeah, we used it a little bit, yeah.
04:23So you saw stuff was happening with this one and you've been keen to come and poke your head in?
04:27Yes, yes. So what's your thoughts then? Do you like what you see? It's lovely inside, really nice,
04:33nice and comfortable. Outside is absolutely beautiful as well. They've really made a nice
04:39effort with this garden, haven't they? Which, you know, they say we're a nation of gardeners,
04:43but somehow that quite often doesn't end up exactly coming across in a pub garden.
04:48But in this one, I really like it. It looks really nice, so we're quite impressed.
04:52So you think you might end up being two regulars then? Absolutely, I think so, yes, I think so.
04:59Good stuff, thank you guys.