The Old Bull and Bush is a Grade II listed public house near Hampstead Heath in London which gave its name to the music hall song ’Down at the old Bull and Bush’.
The building was originally constructed as a farmhouse in 1645 but in 1721 it gained a licence to sell ale and became a ’public house’. It quickly became a haunt for artists and literary scholars including famous artist William Hogarth, who is said to have planted by his own hand the yew bower in the garden.
When Hogarth gave it up, the house was adapted to the purposes of an inn, and was visited by Gainsborough and Sir Joshua Reynolds, David Garrick, Kean and Macready.
Early in the nineteenth century the " Bull and Bush " entertained, among many other literati, William Hone, the antiquary, and Charles Lamb, who were one day wandering among the brushwood on the Heath near the back of the inn, denouncing the evils of snuff, and by agreement threw away each one his snuff-box, after which they returned to their London homes wiser but melancholy men. Early next day Lamb was seen poking among the furze bushes, when Hone appeared walking in the same part of the Heath with eyes riveted on the ground, and with apologies and sadness offered his friend snuff from a paper packet bought this same morning.
In 1867 the pub acquired a music licence when Henry Humphries was the landlord and by the 1890s it was renowned for its gardens and music. In the Edwardian era it became even more popular, as it was a favourite place for Cockneys on a day out in the ’country’. In the 1920s it again leapt to fame with the music hall song, sung by the 15 stone Florrie Forde, the ’Madonna’ of her time who once said "Men don’t like thin women".
The building underwent a major reconstruction in 1924 when owned by the Ind Coope brewery.
Another refurbishment took place in 1987 and then the interior was renovated to a modern, gastropub style with an openly visible kitchen - it was reopened to the public on 24 March 2006. Until the introduction of the English smoking ban on 1 July 2007, The Bull and Bush was one of the few completely smoke-free pubs in London.
The ‘Old Bull and Bush’ was reputedly haunted for over a hundred years by a dark figure in Victorian clothing. The 2006 renovations may have uncovered the reason: bricked-up behind a wall in the cellar was an old skeleton and Victorian surgical instruments.
Near to the pub was the site of the proposed North End tube station (whose popular name was Bull and Bush station) on the Northern Line. As a lot of the surrounding area had been purchased in 1906 so as to protect it from development between planning and proposed opening, only the platforms were excavated, and the station construction was cancelled. An entrance leading down 197 steps to platform level is located on the corner of North End and Wildwood Terrace.
