By Nick Pollard
As I write this the Bull pub, Shepperton Green, lies shuttered and forlorn. It seems that it had come to the end of its lease and this wasn’t renewed. I do hope this is not the end for yet another of Shepperton’s historic pubs, but at the moment it doesn’t look good.
Use them or lose them!
The Bull has a long history, although like another Shepperton pub (the now-vanished Crown) it has moved location. Today it stands at the junction of Sheep Walk and Laleham Road, but originally it was located further down Sheep Walk, when this road was part of Watersplash Road and was the main route through Shepperton Green (Laleham Road was a later addition). The name derives from the bull featured on the coat of arms of the Wood family, Lords of the Manor of Littleton from the 17th to the 19th centuries, who owned much of the land in the area. The first recorded licensee was Thomas May in 1781. After the old pub was sold off and replaced by housing nearly a century later, the first licensee of the new building was Thomas Walpole in 1878.
The photo shows the Bull during the period it was owned by Noakes brewery of Windsor. The painted sign on the wall to the right gives the licensee’s name as J.W. Smith, but there are several posters pasted to the walls proclaiming it is under new proprietorship. This dates it to 1929, when Arthur Talbot took over from James Smith. The pub was to change ownership to Courage the following year. Note that the saloon bar entrance was on the Laleham Road front-age, with a balcony above, but this was later removed. The cars include a Morgan Aero three-wheeler on the right (new price £110 in 1929!).
Sunbury and Shepperton Local History Society resumes its talk programme with ‘Boatyards of Sunbury and Shepperton’ by Nick Pollard at 8pm on Tuesday 20th September at the Hazelwood Centre (London Irish) off Green St, Sunbury. All welcome, admission £2 for non-members.