Industry Notes: I'm a Publican Now

On the opening of our project, The Bell

I’m a publican now. I’ve opened a pub in New Orleans called The Bell.

It’s a nice little place, once a house, a warren of rooms transformed into a place for dining and drinking. There is a small pub room, where low, backless stools and small tables are easily joined. The flexibility invites gathering, and the carpet underfoot, imported from England, lends a cozy, welcoming spirit to the room.

The walls are dotted with collected ephemera, mostly sourced from Etsy, and the ceiling is hung with Union Jack bunting. It feels stitched together over time as if the room was once simple and spare, bits added over the years. It is, without a doubt, one of the more inviting rooms I’ve encountered in a long time, and it begs for spirited conversation and pints of Guinness.

In the dining room, there is sumptuousness and elegance with the humbleness a pub demands. Bare wooden tables are lit with small brass lamps next to tables cloaked in white butcher paper. The art references various English legends: Elton John, David Bowie, Michael Caine, and the comedian Tommy Cooper. It’s all playful, a bit cheeky. My business partner, raised for some time in England, had a nice time sourcing most of the pieces, and I stood back and let him have fun with it.

At the small bar, eight seats upholstered in tartan sit beneath a copper-topped bar edged in green leather.