The Bell Hotel, Clare

Hotel

Grotty rooms we ended up in managers room which was rubbish and outdated after the other two rooms were unacceptable due to poor maintenance and damp carpet from leaking toilet. And getting stuck in bathroom when door handle came off. Wont be stopping here again.

Great place to relax and have a quiet drink, friendly staff and a very nice surroundings.

I stayed here last Saturday, the room was clean and well presented. The bed was VERY comfortable. The pub and restaurant were recently done up and look super. Very attentive staff in the restaurant but it wasn't particularly busy. I enjoyed the food which was well presented and tasty. The breakfast was a complimentary (Not sure why it's called this as I'd paid a b&b rate) board with toast, pastries and yoghurt with homemade granola followed by a cooked breakfast. If I'm back in Clare again I would stay here again.

Ate a truly fabulous meal in the hotels newly renovated restaurant Latitude 52. Ten out of ten for the food, service and atmosphere. Well done to the new owners, wishing you every success for the future!

Found room with no heating in either the bedroom nor shower room, both bedroom windows wide open it was cold time of year too. The following night a different room was available, this had a stuck shower lever which I didn’t want to get involved with/risk forcing. Parking even in a small car's cramped and a bit hazardous. In this case what the Bell provided their paying customer was not value for money. The customer shouldn’t have to be involved with this.

Nice little B&B with friendly staff and your usual friendly locals, spent sometime here through work and always felt like a home away from home.

I remember going in here. There was about 7 people behind the bar but it still took about 10 mins to get our drink and we was the only ones in. We then went and sat in the outside area. Omg ashtrays overflowing and half drank drinks scattered about from the night before. It had just opened that's how we knew it was the night before. Friendly staff prices reasonable beer not to bad.

We had our wedding reception here this weekend and I have to say how amazing all the staff were. They bent over backwards to accommodate our large family being able to stay in the rooms which were lovely and comfortable and made sure our day was absolutely wonderful when it was such a hot day, they all worked so hard. Food served for our wedding meal was lovely, lots of compliments from our guests. Bar stuff were all brilliant and friendly. Thank you to all the hard working staff involved for making our wedding day so perfect.

Went for a carvery last sunday. Ordered 1 beef and 1 pork. Went up to get the carvery. She carved the meat etc. Went onto the roasties n veg. There was about 8 potatoes left n hardly no veg. I mentioned something. She went to kitchen had none left but came back n said I can do mash or chips lol! No thanks. Total joke and confusion. Restaurant manager was fuming as no communication from chef! Place has gone down hill.

A fantastic meal with “proper” food. Great staff and atmosphere. Would certainly go back.

No heating in either bedroom nor shower room, both windows wide open. The following night a different room was available, this had a stuck shower lever I didn’t wang to break nor get involved with so I kneeled in the bath. Parking is cramped and a bit hazardous. The Bell is expensive so the customer shouldn’t have to deal with this.

Came here for Mother's day lunch yesterday as a group of 3. The dining room where we were seated was fairly chilly, but the starters & main courses were lovely & arrived in good time. On choosing our desserts (molten choc pots) we were told of a 12 min wait which was fine, but at 20 mins I chased them up & again 10 mins later to be told they would be another 5 minutes! On paying the bill there were 3 pints on our tab that were not ours & it took a while to get that sorted, also the "free" mothers day pudding (for the mums, as advertised) was not free as we were charged for all 3 desserts that took 35 mins to arrive! Overall I know they were busy but I won't b rushing back here.

This is a beautiful pub stunning building great roaring fires! The selection of beer and drinks are great! The staff are extremely pleasant the young gentleman behind the bar especially. The carvery looked great at first glance and it did taste really good to be honest. BUT THE PRICE not sure it was worth that! Personal We also felt it looked extremely messy on the carvery stand, clutter, the chef did not look like he knew what he was doing he was also dirty, scratching his face then picking up with his hands, using the same utensils for all the cuts of meats the same serving spoons for different veg. He was very flustered and seemed of his depth. Quite clearly you could see he is not a chef! We also actually found his presence quite off putting and rude if that is your chef I would not like to see the kitchen. We had to wait in a cue to get our food we were not the only people grumbling that day believe me. We were sat in the restaurant by the window which was extremely pleasant but to walk all that distance to then walk back to serve ourselfs is beyond me why anyone would want to pay the price of £13plus for a self serving roast dinner! We even had to make our own way to the bar with our bill to stand there while listening to the locals and there p&qs it was intimidating If it was not for the front of house staff and the tasteiness of the food we would not of paid our bill! We will not be returning we will not be recommending to anyone!

Wonderful Sunday lunch. I have allergies & the chef was very helpful in guiding me through the lunch menu. Staff were very polite & attentive. Would certainly recommend & revisit.

Lovely clean room, beautiful breakfast would definitely stay again.

Stunning 16th century pub lovely gentleman behind the bar very good beer lovely fire great experience all round.

If you want a LOCAL OLD ENGLISH PUB and the experience to match then this is for you, singing in the bar downstairs till midnight, a great selection of lagers and good food to enjoy in front of a log stove. If you are a weary traveller seeking a quiet night sleep, go elsewhere. The reception guy was massively over friendly, sharing all sorts of things staff shouldn't do with clients. The bed was cosy but the wind howled around the room and the big old sign outside sqeeked all night. The whole experience was odd. Go with open eyes.

Local's hotel and pub, average food in pleasant unpretentious surroundings.

Lovely meal Xmas day. Ample portions. Good, friendly service. Nice atmosphere.

Went for a Christmas/birthday meal the this not a place we will be returning to.

Pleas note the following is just MY opinion based on my experience. Would not recommend this place at all! Have visited this place twice in the past as a party of 12 and was hugely impressed. However we visited as a party of 7 and was shocked a how this place had deteriorated! We stayed for 3 nights. The first night we had the carvery, Big Mistake! The beef was like leather, the potatoes were like rocks, the vegetables were like mush! Obviously we got the food from lunch time which was left Breakfasts were no better, one of our party was a celiac which we told the Bell about months before we went, but every morning the breakfast staff were not aware of her condition even though we told them the first morning. No provision had been made, they went to the local shop to get fruit because they hadn't got anything she could have for breakfast. There was also never enough cutlery, or crockery or even hot water for hot drinks, we had to boil kettles ourselves! I made the manageress aware of the above when we left. She blamed the problems on a temporary chef and offered us half price carvery. Wow a whole £7 off our bill! Between the 7 of us we spent £1000 plus for our 3 nights stay. Will stay in Clare again, but NOT at the Bell! We'll stay at one of the 2 pubs we found which were excellent! Read the reviews on trip advisor.

Just had a lovely meal, staff were really nice. Well worth a visit, we will be back as here for a few days!

Old and full of character. Great staff and my food last night was beautiful. I would recommend this hotel to anyone.

We really enjoy visiting The Bell and the lovely village of Clare.
The pub has a traditional bar area with separate dining room, garden and ganes room. The latter is great for both adults — with bar games — and kids, with a box of toys to play with.
The food is lovely, with good gluten free options. My son is 7 and is vegetarian and is well catered for — today for instance there was a BBQ for lunch and he thoroughly enjoyed a halloumi kebab and jacket potato.
The rooms and comfortable and we have stayed with our little one who was given a very comfortable sofa bed. He said that the room was one of the best he'd ever stayed in.
The Bell is family friendly and dog friendly.
Thoroughly recommended.

We really enjoy visiting The Bell and the lovely village of Clare. The pub has a transitional bar area with separate dining room, garden and ganes room. The latter is great for both adults — with traditional bar games and pool — and kids, with a box of toys for them to play with. The food is lovely, with good gluten free options. My son is 7 and is vegetarian and is well catered for — today for instance there was a BBQ for lunch and he thoroughly enjoyed a halloumi kebab and jacket potato. All the food was gluten free. The burger was delicious. And the dessert was one of the best brownies I have ever had (and I've eaten a lot of brownies! ) The rooms and comfortable and we have stayed with our little one who was given a very comfortable sofa bed. He said that the room was one of the best he'd ever stayed in. The Bell is family friendly and dog friendly. Thoroughly recommended.

Good cocktails on a Friday night.

Friendly staff a lively atmosphere and a great games room. Not the cheapest pint in town.

Welcoming and pleasant staff, restaurant very clean and very well presented however, thats where the positives end. The meal we had this evening was tasteless — quite poor to be honest and it had occurred to us whether the Chef had phoned in sick! My advice is save yourself alot of money, take a short trip to Tesco/Sainsburys and buy a Charlie Binghams meal instead.

Friendly and cosy place. Nice spacious rooms.

A friendly pub set on the edge of the old market square with good service.

Nice warm pub good beers and nice meals.

The Bell Hotel is all that anyone would want from a country hotel. The building is a magnificent example of rambling tutor corridors, cosy nooks with real fires and comfortable furniture. The rooms are immaculate and we'll furnished (the family rooms are perfect for babies and children). The bar is friendly with a wide range to suit all tastes. A visit to The Bell is not complete without a meal. The food is of excellent quality, offering light bites and hearty pub food through to exquisite specials (during our visit there was a fantastic swordfish steak and some wonderful vegetarian pastries on offer). As a final note the breakfast included one of the finest full English's I have ever eaten. I would highly recommend this friendly establishment to anyone visiting the area.

Lovely staff. Nice atmosphere.

Stayed here for a week-end in June during the Magna Carta celebrations, we have kids and the rooms were great, the staff were very friendly, and the atmosphere was fantastic. The staff gave us some great ideas to visit nearby attractions. The service at breakfast was good as was the breakfast. The manager was very friendly and hospitable. We would definitely stay here again.

I stayed here over 20years ago iM just reminiscing it's a great place to stay it was during a world cup I was working in haverhill refitting a local shoe shop which got burnt out by a lady who, well let's say was as a little put out at getting caught pinching lol anyway go and stay there its great my name is steve.

We had an amazing, wonderful all-home-made meal here. Paul the head chef really takes care of his customers, and the rest of the staff are also very friendly and caring.

We stayed at the Bell Hotel on Boxing night, the room was spotlessly clean and really warm. Husband had the full english breakfast, which was cooked perfectly, I decided on a smaller breakfast which I also enjoyed. The staff couldn't have been more helpful, Patrick was the person we had most dealings with, nothing was to much trouble for him, to make our stay enjoyable. Best wishes to Patrick and staff for the future, we really enjoyed our stay will certainly come back again.

Visted the Bell in May, nice looking place, clean and bright inside, good behind the bar staff, ordered club sandwich and a bowl of soup, well the desert bowl came with a thick tastless blamange type liquid full of salt, pretty bad for £4.25, good sandwich, did say it was the worst soup I have ever had, glass of sp hen, ok next day tried the Abbot it was off bar staff did get independant opinion, given 2 glasses of sp hen in compensation. 3 fish and chips were ordered, soggy chips and fish, only just warm enough one was upside down, peas were good, I have had hotels and pubs myself and know every dayyou have to be on top of the trade,, the food should be good, beer should be tasted every session.

Straightforward pub menu with a few fancier specials; well-kept real ales. Don't miss the perfect little sun-trap of a back garden.