The Bull, Stratford Old Town, Stratford-Upon-Avon

This is a really good community local and I endorse all the positive reviews below.The small shop to the right of the entrance is a great local asset while the pub interior is like the tardis opening at the rear to a pool table,darts board and access to a beer garden.The friendly welcome made you feel at home immediately,free newspapers much appreciated and the ale choice on my visit was TT Landlord,Ringwood 49er,Exmoor Gold and a very good Salopian Darwins Origin with a further handpump clip reversed. It I lived in Stratford this would be my local,there is lots going on and it ticks all the boxes.Ensure you make the effort to walk away from the tourist hot spots to visit this excellent pub.

Hidden away somewhat from Stratford’s tourist population by virtue of its location in a residential area, this community pub is nevertheless still easily accessible from the town centre. It is essentially a single room pub, but there are some distinct areas which create spaces to suit the different needs of their customers. Entering through the front door, you will notice a small community store to your right, which was shut on our late night visit, but seems to stock all of the essentials. The pub is to the left of this entrance and you immediately find yourself at the bar, which curves round towards the rear of the room. The front of the pub has wooden flooring and a good deal of comfy seating which creates the feel of a lounge bar area. Some old pictures and maps of Stratford have been placed on the walls and there is a nice bit of partitioning with an integral fireplace which breaks the space up and creates a pleasant seating area behind. Towards the rear there are a few more tables and chairs as well as a pool table and dartboard. The décor here included images of live music acts, which I took to mean that live music is a regular feature at the pub. A Rihanna CD was being looped over the sound system at a mercifully low volume, although this came to an abrupt end when some lads asked if the staff could show Match of the Day on the large screen behind the pool table. The pub has appeared in recent editions of the Good Beer Guide and there were four ales available at the bar -Taylor Landlord and Golden Best, Sharps Doom Bar and something called Musket Ale from an unidentified brewery. Whilst the latter wasn’t really to my taste, the Golden Best was on top from and went down very well until closing time. A board detailed an upcoming beer festival with fifteen ales listed. I’m not sure if the pub does food but I did spot some homemade bar snacks including some tempting cakes on display at the bar counter. This is the kind of friendly back street boozer I enjoy spending my time in. The staff made us feel very welcome, there were some good beers to be sampled and there was a strong sense of community, which our pubs need now more than ever. This is worth the short walk out of town to enjoy a drink or two.

The West End is hidden away in the back streets of Stratford well away from the tourist mobs that blight the pubs in the middle of Stratford. When i visited this pub it was a proper pub inside though it had been knocked in to one room,this room was quite nice and was the sort of place i could stay in for a while. There was a very good choice of real ales on the bar i had a drink of Hook Norton Old Hookey and this was a very nice well kept pint the other beers were Hook Norton bitter, Hook Norton First Light,Shepherd Neame Spitfire and Boddingtons bitter. I thought this was a really nice pub. Pub visited 23/6/2001