Ring O' Bells

When I first moved to Kendal, one of the things that I keenly anticipated was lots of nice, old pubs. My family had visited the Lakes every Easter for a few years during my teens and we'd been to lots of lovely pubs - some in Hawkshead and Cartmel spring to mind - although, crucially, I don't recall us ever going into a pub in Kendal. 

Well, Kendal pubs were a disappointment in 1990 and remains so to this day. I have enjoyed a few pints at The Castle, to be fair, and had a couple of good evenings in Burgundy's, but there's nowhere that I'd go out my way to take my dad, for example. And he loves a nice pub.

The Ring O'Bells is kind of on the outskirts, in the part of Kendal called Kirkland, and it is - as pretty much anyone in Kendal will tell you - the only pub in England built on consecrated ground (although I've no idea whether this is actually true). It has the potential to be a beautiful little pub but I went in once and I've never been back.