Black Bull Inn, Darwen

The Black Bull Inn page on the Three B's Brewery website - www.threebsbrewery.co.uk

The Black Bull Inn page on the Three B's Brewery website - www.threebsbrewery.co.uk

This remote pub on the outskirts of Blackburn is the home to the Three B’s brewery, located to the rear of the pub. It’s a good 25-30 minute walk here from Cherry Tree station, mostly uphill, so you’ll work up a good thirst making your way out here. It’s a long way from the city centre, so you might consider taking a bus part way, but I found it made a good pre-match venue, as it was only a 20 minute walk back down the hill to Ewood Park. The location is pretty spectacular, with the hill-top site giving great views down to the city below. Entering through the door on the car park side, you find yourself in a corridor with access to a public bar directly ahead. Strangely, this appeared to be closed and in darkness when I arrived, so I made my way through the door on the left, which takes you into the lounge in the front half of the pub. This is a smart, well fitted room with a contemporary take on the traditional pub format. The servery faces the front door and has a brick counter with a dark wood top and canopy and has been adorned with all manner of local CAMRA awards. There are standard tables and chairs opposite with smart upholstered button backed banquettes to the right which are screened from each other by dark wood panels with stained glass floral inserts. There is a nice brick fireplace here, with a lit stove creating a warm, cosy feel. Meanwhile, on the left hand side, there is a pleasant seating area through a square archway with a tiled fireplace, above which there are framed Three B’s pump clip collections. The whole pub sports a rather dubious floral wallpaper as well as enlarged photos showing various stages of the brewing process. A quiet Fleetwood Mac soundtrack provided background noise until the masses arrived, drowning it out with the buzz of chatter. The bar has a good number of handpulls, all offering Three B’s brews, which on my visit comprised Bobbins Bitter, Knocked Up, Doff Cocker, Bee Thrifty, Black Bull Bitter, Tacklers Tipple, Bee Blonde, Stokers Slake and one other that I couldn’t quite read. I tried the Doff Cocker and Bee Thrifty, both of which were in near perfect condition, with the latter being particularly enjoyable. The barmaid was very friendly and welcoming and helped me decide which beers to try. This is a really nice pub that is well worth making the effort to find and had I not had the joy of an away win at Ewood Park to look forward to, I would have happily spent the rest of the evening here working through the handpulls. The pub does keep irregular hours at present, so make sure you consult their website before trekking out here.

After being closed for quite some time,the Black bull has reopened after a refurbishment.The pub has been taken over by the Blackburn based Three B's Brewery,who have installed a Microbrewery at the back of the pub.