The Bull, Highgate, N6

This pub is unchanged since the previous reviewer's visit last year. Furnishings are still mainly recycled dining room tables with normal chairs, and the beams are still festooned with dried hop vines. When I was in at around 6.0 PM on a Wednesday evening most of the tables had reserved signs on them, but thoughtfully with times on them, so I could choose a table with a sufficiently long "free" time. There were four ales on when I visited, plus Heck's cider, and one handpump unused. There were a couple of ales from the the house brewery, the London Brewing Co - Vista Red Ale and Beer Street (£3.40 a pint) - Grain Brewery 3.1.6, and Weird Beard Dark Hopper. I was thoughtfully offered a choice between a jug or straight glass. This is a decent selection, with nothing from the usual suspects. Single sheet menus have main courses over £11, and I had the Bull Burger (including chips, bacon and cheese) for £11.95. I don't normally go for these overly gentrified and corporate gastropubs, but I liked this one. I felt comfortable in here, but I didn't stay late enough to conflict with the reservations. I can see that if you pop in later in the evening there's not likely to be anywhere to sit, and the small bar counter isn't really conducive to propping up the bar. But apparently there's an upstairs bar and dining room, but I didn't investigate. The presence of beers from microbreweries, including very reasonably priced ones from their own microbrewery, is a massive plus. I would be very happy to visit here again.

The Bull is a nicely set out gastro style pub and home to the unimaginatively titled London Brewing Co. The pub is raised from the street level, with steps taking you up to a decent front patio area before you enter the pub itself. You find yourself in a bare boarded room with the servery on the rear wall, slightly to the right. I found that the room had a nice homely feel to it, despite clearly having been refurbished when the pub was last taken over. There are a number of high tables and stools opposite the servery with button backed banquettes and standard chairs serving large round tables positioned in the numerous bay windows. Over to the left, the seating is a bit more functional with predominantly standard tables and chairs plus some padded benches around a small fireplace, making this the area favoured mostly by diners. The whole room has a modest amount of enamel brewery signs and other such breweriana dotted around the place, as well as some large potted plants, a section of wall adorned with handled beer glasses and a textured ceiling lined with hops in a nod to the brewing operation. A TV screen on one wall was turned off during my visit and I noticed a big stack of board games with at least one couple enjoying a competitive game of something or other. The window sills had various bits of CAMRA literature in them as well as some jars which seemed to hold various varieties of hops. Large blackboards are just about everywhere you look and detail bar snacks, keg beers, upcoming events and, in the case of one huge board to the left, the entire brewing process. You can see this for real via a central corridor next to the servery, which is lined with pump clips and leads to the aforementioned in-house brewery. There is also apparently a second bar and function room upstairs, but I didn't get round to exploring. There were no less than four house beers available on this visit - NZ Hop, Black and Blue Blueberry and Maple Mild, Beer Street Bitter and Vista, plus Weston's Rosie's Pig Cider. As the afternoon wore on, another house beer was put on which had been brewed using locally sourced hops. I tried the Mild, which was very good and the NZ Hop which was a little tired. The keg range was pretty good too, including brews from Camden, Fourpure and Brains plus a few US and German options. I really warmed to this fine little brewpub and enjoyed trying a few of their own beers in comfortable surroundings. I certainly didn't feel out of place drinking here without ordering food and would suggest that this is one of the best pubs in the area. I will most certainly be heading straight back here the next time I'm in Highgate.

Date of visit - August 2013 On the main road out of Highgate, a shortish stroll down from The Red Lion and Sun, is The Bull. To a certain extent, externally it resembles a private house with its white painted frontage and a set of bow fronted windows either side of a set of large conservatory style double doors. At the front is a largish concrete slabbed terrace with a mixture of chrome and wooden seating The interior features a white painted, lowish ceiling with hops hanging from several beams. It’s a rather unremarkable interior, but with that upmarket modern dining pub feel that one might expect. There’s the usual absence of TV’s, music and fruit machines. Several old undated photos adorning the walls show the pub in olden days as a Highbury Brewery Co pub. The small bar server is on the right hand side. At the back on the left hand side, and not immediately noticeable, is the open kitchen. By the side of the bar, an on site microbrewery is partly visible down a small passageway, but this is not part of the public area of the pub. An upstairs function room available to groups is advertised. Rather naffly, toilets are denoted as “Bulls” and “Cows”. Despite its gastro pub leanings, the pub is clearly trying to attract a wide range of punters and advertised activities include Quiz Night on Mondays and a Knitting Group (!) on Tuesday. Several shelves contain an extensive collection of board games. Inside the front door on a table are a number of large glass bottles containing various sweets on sale for kids. Beer is evidently taken seriously here with Beer Academy Courses based at the pub being prominently advertised, as is the new CAMRA London Pub Walks book poster .By the side of the open kitchen, a large blackboard depicts the various stages in the brewing process. The large beer menu on the tables tells us that the in house microbrewery started production in September 2011. On my August visit, 4 different on site brews were available from the 6 pumps with, notably, no other brewery beers being available on the pumps, although the drinks range is supplemented by an extensive bottled and keg beer selection ( eg – Camden ). This is the pub where, on the face of it, non dining drinkers might often feel not particularly welcome, but, presumably largely because of the existence of the on site microbrewery, this would certainly not appear to be the case here. Probably best avoided at weekends – as suggested by the CAMRA London Pub Walks book- but, at all other times, you should certainly make the effort to call in if the opportunity presents itself. Finally, do take the opportunity to look at the information board on the pavement outside shows the varying architectural styles along North Hill

A food led pub but with its in -house brewery London Brewing.The house beers are very good and they bring out new ones regularly.Good but expensive range of foreign beers as well.Typical Gastro pub layout with more seating for diners than drinkers.Feels comfortable to me so I rate it highly.