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Detail Pages
The Bull, Shooters Hill, SE18
SE18
SE18 3HP
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Bull
Perched at the top of Shooters Hill is this old-school, two bar pub that dates back to 1749. The front room is a rather basic public bar, with the servery along the rear wall, some partly obscured windows, a TV screen showing Sky Sports News and the obligatory pool table which fills the open plan far end of the room. Banquette seating runs around the perimeter and there are various posters and sports related bits on show. A small band of regulars were propping up the bar in here, engaged in a deep conversation about the state of the wider world. This was all a bit too much for me, so I retreated into a pleasant rear lounge which has a marvellous semi-circular bar counter with matching canopy lined with pump clips. The room is carpeted and offers some comfy banquette seating around all four walls plus a few low stools. A squat brick fireplace stands on the back wall and has a nice little mirror above, whilst various black and white photos line the room and include a series of images of old London trams. Top the right, a large blackboard details the pub's 'Bonus Ball' game, which I couldn't seem to make head nor tail of. A heavily draped doorway to the rear leads out to a sizeable garden with a large lawn and plenty of plastic garden furniture. The two bars are connected by a small porch to the left of the building, which sports a small but attractive bit of checkerboard floor tiling and some nice old partitioning screens.
The handpulls are split between the two bars, so you might want to check both sides before ordering, although the helpful barman was happy to run through the options for me. These were Adnams Broadside, Sharps Doom Bar, Exmouth Silver Stallion, Purity Mad Goose and Moorhouse White Witch. The Silver Stallion was well kept and I can imagine anyone making the trek up the hill would feel well rewarded by a pint in such good condition.
Reliable pubs seem to be a bit short on supply in this part of London, but I found the Bull to be a welcoming spot with some fine beer, comfortable surrounds and friendly staff. This is the sort of pub I'd be vary happy to call my local and I'm sure I'll be calling in again the next time I head this way.
On 4th September 2016
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The Bull
This is still a two-room pub. A vestibule entrance has two doors leading from it - the right hand door takes you into the public bar, while the left hand one takes you into the saloon bar. I spent my visit in the public bar after having a quick look in the saloon bar. The latter room looks a little more upmarket than the former, but with the dominant feature being a large chalkboard at the back with what I think was Christmas draw information on it. Both rooms are carpeted, and furnished with banquettes and normal tables and chairs. The public bar contains a dartboard and a pool table, but not much in the way of decor - just some sporting stuff around the pool table, and drinks adverts and the like. A TV was on, showing some football on Saturday afternoon. It appeared to be dog friendly, as one of the punters in there had a couple of inquisitive mutts with him, and a water bowl had been provided for them.
There were three old hunting scene handpumps in the public bar but these were not in use, requiring the barmaid to go over to the saloon bar to use the pumps there. But there was a small chalkboard on the bar gantry in the public bar spelling out the available ales, and these were Doom Bar, Young's London Gold, Adnam's Broadside, Marston New World, and Thwaite's Yule Love It (£1.70 a half). This is a good ale selection in a real locals' pub. I liked this pub and would have no problem if the opportunity arose to visit again.
On 15th December 2014
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about The Bull
Not to be confused with the similarly named pub near Woolwich Arsenal station, this Bull is a far superior beast.
The interior retains its original public and saloon bar layout which in itself is a bit of a rarity. The saloon bar to the rear of the pub is homely and unpretentious with a small brick arch fireplace but the lighting is perhaps a bit on the bright side (easily remedied) and the colours scheme a bit monotonous. The pictures on the walls also look a bit lost in the vast expanses of wall space and cheap posters don't exactly compliment things but on the whole, everything is neat, tidy and presentable.
The public bar contains a pool table, darts area and a couple of TVs and has a very 70's feel with retro patterned wallpaper that conjures up images of deckchairs or pyjamas. On most Saturdays there is live music so the pool and darts sections are sacrificed for a stage area.
There is a central bar serving both the public and sdaloon bars and you certainly won’t find a better selection of ales within a good distance. The 6 hand pumps (3 in each bar) offer 3 fairly mudane choices (Courage Best, Youngs Ordinary and Youngs Special) with 3 more adventurous (Ringwood 49’er, Wolf Best Bitter and Sambrook Wandle on my latest visit). There is a board above the bar with the current and forthcoming ales.
To the rear of the pub is a spacious and quite attractive beer garden although I have never been here in daylight or summertime to make use of it!
The customer base appeared to fairly civilised and less rowdy than other pubs in the vicinity and overall, it wouldn't take too many minor adjustments to really make it truly worth going out of the way for.
On 20th February 2011
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]