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Picture source: Sue McArdle
The Restoration was situated at 928 Oxford Road. This pub closed in 2015.
My Mum and Dad, (Bert & Ellie), managed the Bell as it was then called between 1974 and 1980 when in June that year my Dad died suddenly. I worked in the bar and kitchen and we used to cater for weddings in the function room at the rear of the pub. They were good times, I still had hair and my youthful good looks. Both gone now. I still play drums however and I remember annoying early evening customers when I practiced in the cellar directly below the public bar. I'm sorry to hear that it is no longer functioning. It's hardly surprising. Society has changed. We no longer go to the pub for a smoke and a drink. We go to the supermarket which is incredibly cheap and those of us who still do, smoke at home. I kicked the smoking in the head some years ago. A pub now has to be a distance away from the competition, be available to the whole family and provide good food. The rest will end up as private dwellings or flattened o make way for flats. The accommodation at the Bell was really nice and on a big footprint would make some lovely flats.
Reg Madden-Waite (February 2021)
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Other Photos
Picture source: Movement80
Date of photo: 2023	Picture source: Sandra Dodsworth