Have a drink in the Bull's Head, Pratt's Bottom

As you get further out towards the M25, whilst you are still technically in London boroughs, it feels much less like London. The Bull's Head pub, in delightfully-named Pratt's Bottom, is a perfect example of a village pub that's technically still in a London borough, but is basically in the countryside. Still, that's enough to earn it a place here.


The village gets its odd name from the Pratt family, who lived in the valley from the 14th century onwards. The village was unremarkable until it became a key stopping off point for stagecoaches on the toll road from London to Hastings or Tunbridge Wells. The Bulls Head has stood on its current site for roughly 400 years, so was perfectly placed to take advantage of passing trade.

The stagecoaches were a unique selling point, but also had negative consequences, as the village soon became the haunt of smugglers and highwaymen. It is even rumoured amongst locals that the infamous highwayman Dick Turpin frequented the Bull’s Head Inn until he was caught horse stealing in 1739 and hanged for his crime. Local folklore has it that he slept in Pear Tree Cottage in the village, and moved between it and the pub through a tunnel which was long since bricked up.

For more from the pub's eccentric landlord Vern, visit http://www.thebullsheadpub.net

_{^Picture by Matthew Black^}