How old it is could be easily established before demolition, but will not be if the application is approved on the basis that it is relatively recent by taking unfounded and irrational speculation based on what suits the plans for 'improvement' as the truth. See Kirsten Elliot's educated comment made to BANES (below) and please remember that you are custodians, not entrepreneurs.
06/01/2016: While I do not want to make a strong objection, I do have some concerns about this application. Firstly, I consider the historic statement inadequate. It appears to be a précis of the entry in our book Bath Pubs with further information supplied by us later (about Peter Hooper). It fails to do the building justice. In our opinion, the building is clearly seventeenth century, almost certainly with - as the D&A statement confirms - a gabled roof which has been altered in the eighteenth century (as many were.) This is a very old building which was probably part of the village which clustered round the parish church of Walcot, and deserves a better report than this.
I wonder where the idea has come from that this ‘pier’ is not an original part of the wall. It is the same thickness as the remaining wall on each side. Has an investigation been carried out to verify this assumption? I consider it more likely that the narrow opening was a window than a doorway, dating from before the addition of the back room. This is why the wall is so thick – it was the back wall of the original building. The gap may have been converted to a doorway when that room was added, although it seems very close to the fireplace for a doorway. I think it is more likely the doorway was opposite the door in the front.
As someone who goes to events at the Bell, I can see why the committee members wish to open it up, although I thought the purpose of the community buy-out was to keep it as it was. Not being a shareholder, that is not my concern. Buildings must change as circumstances do, and listing should not be a stranglehold. But I do feel that replacing the section of the old wall – which is what I believe it to be, although I stand to be corrected – with a pillar does lose some of the historic grain of the fabric which has, remarkably, survived.
I think this point needs to be answered before rushing into removing what may be a vital part of the building’s structure.
Finally, I wonder too where the sound desk, which at present is fixed to this section of the wall, will go. Will moving it mean a loss of standing space in the main bar? Will there be a structural alteration or construction for it to stand on? There is no indication of this in the application.
P.S. The peculiarity of a doorway being so close to a fireplace is easily explained when you remember that the fireplace was built along with the extension in Victorian times, and the back door to the original, core building simply opened onto the yard outside. This yard was greatly built up with infill (possibly using demolished stables and other outhouses) probably at the same time, which is why there has to be steps leading from the existing back door to the garden area. If you look at the stone cheeks at the foot of these steps, you will see that they are single pieces of Bath stone which correspond precisely to the recorded dimensions of the low wall which ran along the street outside to protect passengers from being splashed with mud. I believe they were used for these cheeks when the wall was demolished.
The original yard would have been much larger and more level, otherwise there would have been quite a problem in changing horses etc. when it was used as a coaching inn.
P.P.S. Here's a suggestion on how to improve the place with the same sort of money as it would take to demolish that wall: How about converting the Fringe Office into a micro-brewery and moving the Fringe into the room which is/isn't being used as a meeting-room above the bar, because it is too noisy to rent out for any other purpose? Imagine that - The Bell's own beer! (Jamie thinks this is a 'stupid' idea and assures me that it will never happen).