The Bull, Highgate, N6

Decent looking Gastro pub with the advantage of having an in house micro brewery. Most of the floorspace was given over to tables dining in mind ,but there are areas around the bar you can happily perch up for a beer, of which there were five of their own,the Gorgeous Geek Hunter, extra pale ale at £ 3.90 was a decent first pint of the day, There was also a cider on handpump, Rosies Pig Hogfather, not as such a trad pub but it's certainly worth stopping off here.

Largely as described below, I've only been in here once before about 6 years ago with no joy. The music was loud and the barman couldn't speak English. I now seems much improved with a friendly barmaid who could speak English and a wide selection of ales, most if not all from the on-site London Brewing Co: Beer Street, American Amber, Stateside Pacific Ale, Highrise Pale Ale, a blank clip and Never Mind The Kent Hops. Price forgotten it was probably high though my half was good. Unfortunately it was served in a wine glass. This is a good pub despite the slightly corporate gastropub feel and beer served in wine glasses. Worth a visit.

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.