The Bull, Bishopsgate, EC2

Down one of the narrow lanes opposite Liverpool Street station, this is a smart, modernised single room pub doing a brisk post-work trade on my mid-week visit. A door with an etched glass pane bearing the pub's name above it, leads you into a rectangular bare boarded room with the servery along the rear wall. The bar has a dark wood counter with metal frontage and there is a smart, part mirrored, contemporary bar back. Banquette seating runs around most of the walls, supplemented by standard chairs and some low padded stools. Walls are a mix of bare brick, low wood panelling and marble effect with minimal effort put into the décor, although the overall effect is not as bland as you might expect given the distinct lack of visual stimulation. In fact, the only items of note in the entire room were the large decorative chandelier hanging from the centre of the ceiling and a large neon sign to the rear indicating the direction of 'The Hide Dining Rooms'. Music played quietly throughout my visit and there was a separate stretch of bar counter to the left which had a very tempting display of sausage rolls, scotch eggs and other such classic bar snacks for those not wanting to make use of the formal dining room. There were four ales on the bar when I arrived - Twickenham Naked Ladies and Sundancer, Vale Red Kite and Tynebank The Bull, which I presumed was a house beer. I tried a pint of the latter, which came in at a pretty hefty £4.40, but it was in decent enough condition and served by a very smartly dressed, polite barman. This is a compact little bar and I can imagine there are times when it becomes unbearably overcrowded, but I found it quite easy to settle down here and enjoy a good pint of beer. There isn't really all that much here to grab your attention and I do feel that there are a number of better pubs nearby, but this is a good place to know about and I'm sure I'll pop in again to see what they've got on the bar.

Old fashioned looking pub from outside but quite upmarket interior.Lovely large chandelier. Smartly dressed bar staff.House beer from Tynebank,and others from Sambrookes,Twickenham and Purity.Comfortable pub.Quiet compared with others nearby.

I popped into the Bull on Wednesday (23rd) at office kicking out time so it was quite busy. I managed to get served very quickly, but for some reason I was given half a lager (£2.50) rather than the requested stout. I’m not sure what one of the premium draught products it was, but it went down quite well. The interior and facilities are much the same as I reported four years ago, although the four hand pumps that line the bar were all unused. Located next door are the Hide Dining Rooms which I did not visit. The only food I saw advertised in the bar area were pork pies and sausage rolls. My view from my last visit has not changed because I still feel that there are better pubs in the area, especially as this place now lacks any cask ale. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 28th July 2010 This place has a contemporary design so it is not going to appeal to the traditionalists out there, but on my recent weeknight visit I enjoyed a decent pint of Guinness which was served by a very friendly barman. The lager selection was limited with only Peroni, Heineken and Amstel being available, but Pride was available alongside Robinsons which was the guest beer. I didn’t see any sign of a television, but there was some chilled dance music playing in the background at a decent level as to not interfere with conversation. There is a function room upstairs that is available for hire. Although I felt very welcome here I still think that there are better pubs in the area.