[1] Sometime before 1271[5] Nottingham Whitefriars established a friary on what is now Friar Lane with lands that included a guesthouse on the site of what is now the Bell Inn.

[6] John White bequeathed the freehold of the Inn to his wife Mary in 1732 and two years later she sold it to a wealthy local banker, Abel Smith.

Under the terms of the lease she also undertook extensive repairs of the building and constructed a Georgian frontage that allowed for the preservation of the rare crown post structure to this day.

[7] Rioters protesting against the Reform Act gathered at the Inn on Goose Fair night 1831 and smashed the windows before going on to burn down many of the city's prominent buildings, including Nottingham Castle and Colwick Hall.

Tory politician John Walters established his campaign headquarters at the Inn for the 1841 British general election and had to take refuge here when he was set upon by an angry mob in the Square.

Mary Jackson succeeded her husband as proprietor in 1913 and established the famous two-course Market Dinners of Stilton cheese, beef and vegetables, and a pint of Nottingham ale, for one shilling.

The Inn was purchased for £26,000 (equivalent to £1,978,710 in 2023[8]) by her youngest son Robert, who in 1928 converted the stable courtyard at the rear of the premises into the café-bar-style Snack Bar, which included a large cabinet radio gramophone and catered to the workers building the new Nottingham Council House nearby.

The original living quarters, with a bedroom and bathroom featuring two front-facing windows overlooking the Old Market Square, were opened to the public as the Clubroom by the Jackson family in 1953.