Dereham Pub Day 2 – The Bull

The fourth pub of the day that Julian and I visited in Dereham was The Bull, part of the Greene King estate. It’s been a hospitality venue since the early 1790s and operated by Greene King since the early 1980s having previously been part of Watney Mann and then Chef & Brewer.

It initially looked like no real ale was available, but the server mentioned that they did have Old Speckled Hen from Greene King on. They’ve also listed on blackboards some events that they’ve got on as well.

I can’t say that it’s one of my favourite beers by any means, but it was well-kept here, at the appropriate temperature and served in a clean glass.

This is the main room and there’s another section of the bar off to the left.

I’m never entirely sure why the need for the “seniors deal”, can’t they just put smaller portion and make it available to all in the same way that JD Wetherspoon do? Anyway, I digress….

I liked the brickwork at the bottom right of the photo, but it doesn’t look as impressive here. I’m easily pleased to be fair.

Bargains galore on Friday afternoons. The pub has some slightly odd opening times, they close at 19:00 on Mondays, 18.00 on Sundays and 21:00 on Tuesdays to Thursdays, which seem relatively early to me.

This was a perfectly nice pub, it was clean, well presented and there was a pleasant welcome and farewell so it felt informal and comfortable. The beer choices weren’t extensive, but the real ale that they had tasted fine and it was reasonably priced. I can imagine that it’s a challenging situation being quite near to a JD Wetherspoon outlet, but it’s still trading and is apparently busy in the evenings, so that’s all quite marvellous. And I have to mention again that this venue isn’t really that far from celebrating being open for a quarter of a millennium.