First Look: Step Inside New Orleans’ Funky New British Pub, the Bell 

Brooks Reitz and his business partner Tim Mink—the masterminds behind beloved Charleston eateries Leon’s Oyster Shop, Melfi’s, and Little Jack’s Tavern—had long had an eye on opening something in New Orleans. So earlier this year, when Mink noticed a three-room, cozy building on Esplanade Avenue in Bayou St. John, they snapped it up—and they’ve just opened it as the Bell, a British-inspired pub. 

“Tim lived in England for most of his life as a child, and I got married in England and we go back every summer,” Reitz says. “British pubs are something I love and that I’ve spent a lot of time in, so this just felt right.” 

The menu, however, pushes the envelope of traditional pub fare, nodding to New Orleans. In lieu of fish and chips, for example, there’s a crispy fish sandwich with celery root remoulade. Instead of shepherd’s pie comes fishmonger’s pie starring Gulf seafood. Crowning the classic New Orleans snack of broiled oysters is melty British smoked cheddar. Everything, of course, is best washed down with a beer. 

Reitz invented a whole fictional—and detailed—backstory to guide design decisions, something he likes to do in all of his restaurants. “The Bell’s story is that back in the fifties and sixties, there was a group of six British explorers who left England and moved to New Orleans, and they would gather in this house, which they made their Explorers Club,” he says. “They would meet once a week over beers, and they brought all of their knickknacks and keepsakes from their adventures.” Reitz even commissioned a British artist to paint their portraits. Hats and flags and pictures hang from the walls and ceilings. “There’s crazy stuff everywhere,” he says. “That’s the vibe of the place—a cozy, fun, and funky British pub.”

Below, peek inside the Bell. 

The pub room offers casual, flexible seating around a fireplace, all atop a traditional pub carpet imported from England.

The walls and ceilings are hung with Union Jack flags, croquet mallets, wooden tennis racquets, and other knickknacks from his fictional characters’ backgrounds. 

At the Bell’s bar, tartan stools are first-come, first-serve for drinks, oysters, and other bites. 

Reitz drinks a double-tapped Guinness, the pub’s signature beer.