My grandfather and grandmother ran the Eight Bells from 1939 till after the War, they’d moved from Edgware with their two daughters, my mother and her sister, Betty. Mum met Dad working in the Post Office at Bletchley Station, they lived in the Eight Bells for a while , and had me. The Hotel was named after the eight bells in St. Mary’s Church.
My father, Frank Bowman, ran the pub from about 1960 until the mid-70s. When we moved there it was called the Eight Bells but he renamed it the Eight Belles soon after we arrived after he was told that a member of (I think, but my memory is vague as I was a schoolboy and not greatly interested) the Leon family had eight daughters who were known as the ‘Eight Belles of Bletchley’. He had a new sign painted with eight Edwardian ladies on it. The Leon family did, of course, own Bletchley Park before WW2.
Comments about this page
My grandfather and grandmother ran the Eight Bells from 1939 till after the War, they’d moved from Edgware with their two daughters, my mother and her sister, Betty. Mum met Dad working in the Post Office at Bletchley Station, they lived in the Eight Bells for a while , and had me. The Hotel was named after the eight bells in St. Mary’s Church.
My father, Frank Bowman, ran the pub from about 1960 until the mid-70s. When we moved there it was called the Eight Bells but he renamed it the Eight Belles soon after we arrived after he was told that a member of (I think, but my memory is vague as I was a schoolboy and not greatly interested) the Leon family had eight daughters who were known as the ‘Eight Belles of Bletchley’. He had a new sign painted with eight Edwardian ladies on it. The Leon family did, of course, own Bletchley Park before WW2.
I have a Mornington Cannon Cup golf medal dated May 1907. Won by R R Lamb and history of the Bletchley golf club used the 8 Bells Hotel
why is it called eight Belles referring to women not bells?
Hi
I would love to know how the Eight Belles came up with its name.
Add a comment about this page