Three more interesting things about the Black Bull:
ONE: it’s that rare treat, a reverse TARDIS pub. It looks like it’ll be some vast wasteland of tables and chairs and misery from the mock-Tudor exterior but it turns out to be a comfortable, intimate place once you’re inside, and is slightly improved by the recent removal of the unnecessary and tiny raised area under the big screen.
TWO: the always-open window by the gents’ urinals looks out over the tube lines which can make for more interesting viewing than the usual tiling or blackboards.
THREE: it manages the unusual trick of catering happily and well to a very mixed group of pubgoers. Quite often you’ll see a bunch of students happily and noisily next to decidedly dodgy-looking geezers and / or old giffers and no-one seems to mind at all (I go in there a fair bit and I’ve never seen a hint of trouble). This, of course, is fantasy pub ideal world and the BB is to be warmly congratulated.