The Bless 5.15

The Blessington Carriage originates from two terrace houses that were converted into a two storey restaurant back in the mid 1970's. The restaurant was created by two guys from Nottingham and was called Ben Bowers after the famous traveller. The restaurant was on the first floor with the bar on the ground floor.

In the mid 1980's the pub trade started to dominate and took over the success of the restaurant. There was even times when the music from downstairs used to make plates bounce off the tables in the upstairs restaurant. This led to the pub expanding into the two adjacent cottages that were built in the 1900's. Before being used as cottages they had been a grain store, furniture makers and a coffin makers.

At this point the pub became The Blessington Carriage which came from the owners choosing the name randomly from a book based on horse drawn carriages. The extension coincided with the Bless being one of the first two bars in Derby to be given a late license long before the standard late licenses we have now. Only half the pub had the late license though so it was split into two and admission was charged upon entry of the late half.