The first bells of any significance to me must be the ones used by my father and grandfather to call ‘last orders’ and ‘time, gentlemen, please’ in their pubs. They were fixed to a post or wall behind the bar and with a firm tug on the rope, sent out a loud peal with an authoritative tone. At some point the word ‘gentlemen’ was removed and it was simply ‘time, please’, even in the Vaults. The Vaults was considered the mens’ bar, simply because no ladies would ...
