The Bulls Head, Warrington

Dating from the 17th century, the Bull’s Head is L-shaped with seating to the right of the entrance and the bar on the rear wall to the left. Seating runs along the front windows to a fireplace in the left hand side. This fireplace separates the thin front seating area from the pool and dart area in the left rear where access can be gained to the beer garden out back that houses some picnic tables. During my visit on Tuesday evening last week there were only three customers, who were all friendly enough. The barmaid was also polite, but the only cask ale available from the handpumps was Bulls Head Pale Ale. A standard and premium keg selection was also available. There is a jukebox and live football is advertised, as is a function room. This place has a bit of history to it and I would visit again, but probably wouldn’t stay for more than another pint.

Looks the part inside and outside, the building just oozes character. As a pub I actually found it much more comfortable and relaxing than the Tavern next door. The beer range is a different matter though, just Black Sheep and Castle Rock Snowhite today and no one but me was drinking them. Basic sandwiches/barms available on the bar. Worth a visit if just for the lovely rambling interior, the landlady and locals were very welcoming too.

This is a very nice, compact traditional pub on the very edge of Warrington town centre. The pub has a shallow, but very wide layout for the most part, extending rearwards only down the very far left-hand end. You enter directly into the main bar area with the servery directly opposite you, along the back wall. The room is bare boarded with whitewashed walls, dark wood beams and some red lincrusta wall coverings below a low dado rail. The bar has a nice counter with some impressive carved wooden pillars supporting a leaded glass pot shelf. The bare brick and mirror bar back meanwhile, has been decorated with a string of fairy lights, which works surprisingly well. To the right of the entrance there is a cosy seating area with banquette and chair options around the perimeter and a large screen on the end wall showing a live rugby league match. There’s an L-shaped button backed banquette opposite the bar to the left of the entrance, supported by low stools, with a second screen showing the same match in one of the corners. From here you can pass into what seems to have once been a separate left-hand room, now opened out, with benches and chairs along the front wall, a stone fireplace to the rear with another TV screen above it and a slot machine in the corner. Behind this room, a rear space acts as a games room with a pool table and dartboard plus a final TV screen and a few rugby league themed pictures on the walls. Music was playing quietly in the background, but this was easily lost under the chatter of a packed Saturday evening crowd. There were four handpulls in action on the bar, dispensing Fullers London Pride and Rocky Red, Adnams Ghost Ship and Hardy and Hanson Scrum Down. I opted for a pint of the Rocky Red, which was in fairly good condition, and supped it on a cramped table in the middle of the pub, trying to follow what was clearly a very important rugby fixture as far as the locals were concerned. This is quite a pleasant, cosy little pub that almost has a rural feel to it what with all the dark wood beams, cramped confines and cheery locals. The beer was decent enough and the welcome was pretty friendly, so when you consider there is another good pub just next door, it’s a bit of a no brainer to pop in here for a solid double header.