Inside the pub where phones, music and swearing are banned

YE OLDE BLUE BELL IS DIGITAL DEVICE-FREE ZONE - SO OUR VISIT WAS DRAWN INSTEAD!

- By SOFIE JACKSON

IF you've ever walked past Hull Minster on Market Place, you've probably come across an intriguing alley with a bell hanging above the entrance.

Gothic script proclaims it is “Ye Olde Blue Bell”, one of the many bars in Hull’s Old Town.

The pub has a long history and I've heard stories about popular folk music nights that used to be held in the upstairs rooms. But I was surprised to discover it is currently a Samuel Smith pub, linked to the Yorkshire brewery that has famously “strict” rules about what you can and cannot do in its pubs.

This becomes immediately obvious when you try to search reviews for photographs customers have taken of the pub's interior - there are none. This is due to the “no mobile phones” rule, aimed to encourage conversations instead of endless doom-scrolling.

Rather than putting me off, it had the opposite effect, so I decided to give Ye Olde Blue Bell a try. My colleagues were also keen on the idea, so we ended up getting the whole band together.