The original Bell Hotel opened at the end of Hey Street in the 1880s by John and Maria Wilcox. After he died (aged 39) in 1899, Maria carried on in Hey Street for another couple of years before she had the new Bell Hotel built on Tamworth Road in about 1900.
The first landlord was Joseph Goodliffe, who’d been a bandmaster on the SS Norman whilst it was serving as a troopship during the Boer War. But the licence seems to have been held by, or moved to Maria’s son, John Thomas Wilcox, for a while. When John was called up by the Army in 1915 the licence was transferred back to Joseph Goodliffe. After the war John became a plumbing contractor.
When Joseph Goodliffe died in 1927 his wife, Maria (nee Astle), took over the licence.
In the early 1930s the landlord was Albert Potter. He retired in 1933 and moved away but returned to Sawley about 14 years later and took on the Bell again for a short time before ill health forced him to give up.
Bert Smith was the landlord during WW2 and through the 1950s. Albert Raynor was there in 1961.
Ernie & Frances Aldred ran the pub for at least 20 years from 1968. They were followed by Phil and Lynne Rushton.
