The Old Bell was originally a beerhouse that occupied the seventeenth-century stables adjacent to the later pub. In 1930 the New Bell was built to resemble a country cottage with black ship’s timbers, and the postcard above shows it when it was new.

Its address was originally 40 [Old] High Street, but it was changed to No. 72 in c.1939.

Alfred Marlow, a gardener by trade, was landlord of the Bell Inn when his wife Emma Ann Marlow died here on 8 March 1874, and he himself died at the pub less than six weeks later on 19 April 1874: an inquest into each of their deaths was held at the pub. Marlow's household furniture and effects were sold by auction on the pub premises on 12 May.

By 1876 the landlord was Walter Marlow, and the 1881 census shows him at the age of 36 and described as a gardener living at the pub with his wife Ann and their five children. He remained at the pub until 1893.

In 1894 the landlord was George Odey Stow. He died in 1898 at the age of 41, and in 1899 his widow Mrs Mary Jane Stow (née Cook) is listed as landlord.

In 1900 John Williams, who had married Mary Jane Stow in 1899, was listed as the landlord here, and at the time of the 1901 census when he was aged 36 he was described as a gardener & publican and lived at the Bell with his wife Mary. In 1911 he was a widower of 45, living at the pub with his stepson John Dobson Stow (22). He was still there in 1936.

The 1939 register shows Wilfred Stopps (born 21 November 1900), described as a licensed victualler and small milk roundsman, living here with his wife Dorothy.

In May 1994 planning permission was granted for a private house to be built on the site of the old stables/beerhouse at 72A Old High Street (93/01214/NFH).

The Bell pub closed in 2000. In May 2001 planning permission was granted for a four-bedroomed house on the site of the pub itself (00/02170/NFH), and the pub was duly demolished in May 2002.