The Bull, Shooters Hill, SE18

Official site of The Bull - www.bullhotelshootershill.co.uk

Official site of The Bull - www.bullhotelshootershill.co.uk

Perched at the top of Shooters Hill is this old-school, two bar pub that dates back to 1749. The front room is a rather basic public bar, with the servery along the rear wall, some partly obscured windows, a TV screen showing Sky Sports News and the obligatory pool table which fills the open plan far end of the room. Banquette seating runs around the perimeter and there are various posters and sports related bits on show. A small band of regulars were propping up the bar in here, engaged in a deep conversation about the state of the wider world. This was all a bit too much for me, so I retreated into a pleasant rear lounge which has a marvellous semi-circular bar counter with matching canopy lined with pump clips. The room is carpeted and offers some comfy banquette seating around all four walls plus a few low stools. A squat brick fireplace stands on the back wall and has a nice little mirror above, whilst various black and white photos line the room and include a series of images of old London trams. Top the right, a large blackboard details the pub's 'Bonus Ball' game, which I couldn't seem to make head nor tail of. A heavily draped doorway to the rear leads out to a sizeable garden with a large lawn and plenty of plastic garden furniture. The two bars are connected by a small porch to the left of the building, which sports a small but attractive bit of checkerboard floor tiling and some nice old partitioning screens. The handpulls are split between the two bars, so you might want to check both sides before ordering, although the helpful barman was happy to run through the options for me. These were Adnams Broadside, Sharps Doom Bar, Exmouth Silver Stallion, Purity Mad Goose and Moorhouse White Witch. The Silver Stallion was well kept and I can imagine anyone making the trek up the hill would feel well rewarded by a pint in such good condition. Reliable pubs seem to be a bit short on supply in this part of London, but I found the Bull to be a welcoming spot with some fine beer, comfortable surrounds and friendly staff. This is the sort of pub I'd be vary happy to call my local and I'm sure I'll be calling in again the next time I head this way.

This is still a two-room pub. A vestibule entrance has two doors leading from it - the right hand door takes you into the public bar, while the left hand one takes you into the saloon bar. I spent my visit in the public bar after having a quick look in the saloon bar. The latter room looks a little more upmarket than the former, but with the dominant feature being a large chalkboard at the back with what I think was Christmas draw information on it. Both rooms are carpeted, and furnished with banquettes and normal tables and chairs. The public bar contains a dartboard and a pool table, but not much in the way of decor - just some sporting stuff around the pool table, and drinks adverts and the like. A TV was on, showing some football on Saturday afternoon. It appeared to be dog friendly, as one of the punters in there had a couple of inquisitive mutts with him, and a water bowl had been provided for them. There were three old hunting scene handpumps in the public bar but these were not in use, requiring the barmaid to go over to the saloon bar to use the pumps there. But there was a small chalkboard on the bar gantry in the public bar spelling out the available ales, and these were Doom Bar, Young's London Gold, Adnam's Broadside, Marston New World, and Thwaite's Yule Love It (£1.70 a half). This is a good ale selection in a real locals' pub. I liked this pub and would have no problem if the opportunity arose to visit again.