The Orange Bull, Rotherhithe, SE16

Sports bar serving a standard draught selection. The pub has 2 dartboards and 1 pool table. Rugby memorabilia on the walls.

Judging by John McGraw's photograph from 2007, this pub was previously called The Fitchetts. Some of the original Courage signage is also still in place on the side of the building. There was no bitter of any kind available, just standard lagers as far as I could see, and no food was available on Saturday afternoon. This is another red-themed Rotherhithe pub; this one had red upholstered furnishings, red sofas, a red carpet, and a couple of red baize covered pool tables. The wall decor was almost exclusively montages of photographs, of what I would guess are pub customers. This is a South African themed bar as far as I can see. There were a couple of large TVs, but muted so that customers could enjoy the pop music blaring out in a foreign language – Afrikaans I presume. A couple of the other customers, and the staff were all speaking Afrikaans. I have to say that I didn’t feel particularly at home here, as everyone else in there was speaking a language I didn’t understand. It’s fair enough I suppose that South Africans in this country should have a bar that they have made their own and feel at home in, but visiting this pub just reinforces my own love for the traditional English pub. I don’t expect to pay a return visit.