What a great week it was last week both at the Bulls Head celebrating 200 years as a pub in 2012 and amazingly the Cholmondeley Arms celebrated 150 years as a building, the old school house opening in 1862!! Cakes were baked, celebrations were had, Lord and Professor Ted did his birthday quizzes with great curry evenings on the nights too, Cholmondeley had its 2nd Annual Gin making competition and the Bulls Head had a jazz evening with the ‘smoooth’ old boys Laurie and Stewart. We are still waiting for the 5000th dog to stroll in to the Bulls Head to finish off the celebrations!!! Thanks to everyone who worked so hard on the week when all our Christmas specials ‘went live’ too. Thank you to all our customers who turned up in support and joined in the festivities!! It might become an annual event!!

Yes they are back!!

Our now famous Woolly Bully featured in Cheshire’s ‘In/Out’ Magazine as well as the usual suspects such as Lloyds Mulled Wine.

This year James our deputy has come up with a Mulled Cider special which is excellent!!

New this year is the Warm Butterscotch Apple Nog certainly worth a try!!

So if you are doing our pub walk and want to pop to warm the cockles then we will be waiting at the ready!!

It isn’t often you get chance to put on your dinner jacket for a night out especially with members of the Bulls Head team (as we are normally all working) and it certainly isn’t often the occasion turns out to be the Cheshire Life Magazine ‘Dining Pub of the Year award 2012′. We had a great time, we saw the little Bulls Head up in lights and while we posed for photos, the team back at the Bulls Head quickly posed for their own photo to rival ours as they waited with our customers for the result!!!

We are very proud of the nomination……. after all the Bulls Head has only been open two years and to have got this recognition at this early stage is beyond our wildest dreams. The team deserve it, they have worked hard and deserve all the recognition in the world, so this nomination was for them….. for our wonderful chefs, the sweat and toil of our resilient kitchen porters, our hardworking bar team and our bright eyed floor team as well as our management team…big, big, thanks to all. To our customers what can we say…………your support of the Bulls Head since we opened has been relentless and we greatly appreciate it.

Congratulations to the winners and to our fellow runners up. You can read about it all in the December issue of Cheshire Life if you want but in the meantime heres to Christmas and a great 2013!!!

BACK AT THE BULLS HEAD!!

DON’T WE LOOK SMART!!

What Cheshire Life said…

Bull’s Head, Mobberley – Dispensing hospitality since 1812, this classic village pub re-opened in 2010 after major refurbishment which, cleverly, you’d never know has happened, such is the traditional, nostalgic atmosphere beneath its low beamed ceilings. There’s an excellent range of Cheshire cask ales from micro-breweries within a 30 mile radius of the pub, over 70 whiskies, and a hearty, no-nonsense home-cooked flavorsome menu.

TOUGH MUDDER T-SHIRT!!.

They may look like part of the 118-118 team but Lloyd (head chef from the Bulls Head) and Andy our great occasional kitchen team player successfully completed the ‘Tough Mudder’ challenge!!

LLOYD AND ANDY FROM THE BULLS HEAD COMPLETE THE COURSE

Cholmondeley Castle hosted the event with the ‘Tough mudder’ organisers.

This was a half marathon with SAS like obstacles from electric shock treatments to wading/swimming through frozen lakes and ice filled containers that would take your breath away. Tough mudder teams including Andy and Lloyd came back to the Cholmondeley Arms after their heroic achievements.

I think Lloyd will appreciate the warmth of his kitchen more than ever having seen how cold they were on arriving at Cholmondeley.

Anyway a couple of ‘Pub Club’ Sandwiches and warm coffee with a bowl of hot chips improved them slightly.

A guest room was set aside in our Headmasters house for hot showers and changing facilities for friends and team-members to use to get them back to normal as quickly as possible.

Well done Lloyd and Andy who might ache a bit but they did it!!!

TOUGH MUDDER TEAM

As winter approaches Ben our landlord and the team have given great thought to drinks for winter. We are asking you to pop down and get board!!! Ben has launched his new whisky boards giving a variety of taste for two to share as a winter warmer by the fire!!

Different regions of Scotland have been carefully chosen as well as Ireland, the U.S and an international board too. It is a great way to sample whiskies and understand the differences in aroma and taste. A true winter warmer!!

During Cask Ale Week we launched our C.A.T.S (Cask Ale Tasters Society) boards where three beers can be sampled in third of a pint glasses. This is another great way to sample the varieties on offer.

We are today launching our famous winter drinks including our very own ‘Woolly Bully’ which has become famous over the last three winters since we opened. It has even been featured in IN/OUT Magazine this Autumn!!

You can read about our winter drinks from the board outside the pub!!

So three great reasons to get board this winter!!!

The fires are lit so what are you waiting for?

THE UNITED COLOURS OF CASK

BASHFUL TESS

We were chatting about our four legged friend visitors to the Bulls Head the other day and from ‘Tess’, Tony’s beautiful dog that visits five days a week to Nuala our local Irish Terrier who pops down on her own for a wee drink and a biscuit we have had many a hound through the door of our pub!!

In fact, I exaggerate not, when I say we have calculated that nearly 5000 pet dogs have visited the Bulls Head garden or ‘Whisky Snug’ since we opened the doors over two and a half years ago. We give away 4 boxes of dog biscuits a week!!! That’s over 500 boxes since we opened!!!

So to mark the 200th birthday of our pub in the first week of December the owners of what we calculate to be the 5000th dog to come through our doors will be rewarded with a secret prize!!!

This is not a ‘shaggy dog story’ it is acknowledgment that pet dogs like pubs too!!! So will your pooch do it? See you from Monday 3rd December!!

WHO WILL BE THE 5000TH DOG TO VISIT OUR PUB

NUALA

Blue a Crufts Champ

Our famous fresh homecooked pie week went  down really well last week!  Literally!!! I guess that’s why we celebrate it twice a year!!!

The next one is now in March 2013. As everyone knows we only use antique mixed chairs here at the Bulls and it would seem that more chairs broke in Pie Week than in the last couple of years!!

Could it be the wonderful steak and Mobberley ale Pie that pushed the weight up a little?

Don’t worry we will reinforce the chairs before March!!

After a lot of recipe writing, cooking and best of all…tasting we have launched our Autumn season menu. Such delights for starters are

Lloyds lightly spiced beetroot soup finished with Ty Gwyn cider and crème fraiche or Pan fried Duck livers finished with warm chickory and fig salad or the wonderful Crispy ‘kipper’ hash with Clonakilty black pudding and a fried hens egg or Cheshire’s very own Kidderton Ash Goats Cheese ‘cakes’ with salad leaves, port dressing and pickled walnuts.

For main courses we have added a chicken dish for all those lovers of our ‘Parmesan Chicken’ that used to be on the menu. This is similar but with an Autumn mushroom sauce and we now use Old Winchester Cheese which is like an English Parmesan but better!! Delicious!! Then we are adding Pan fried Cheshire Lamb Chops with creamy spring onion mash, creamed cabbage and smoked bacon finished with pan juices and our favourite Pork chops are back too. We are doing Organic Pork Sausages from the Rhug estate with creamy mash, shallot gravy and red cabbage for Autumn and for vegetarians a Butternut squash hash with spiced carrot chutney, beetroot leaf and sorrel salad with spiced squash seeds.

Then we have Lloyds slow cooked Mobberley ‘tongue in cheek’ Ox ‘stew for two’ served with creamy mashed potato and red cabbage or of course you can have this for one or for fish lovers the hake is back this time Pan roasted fillet of hake wrapped in English Air dried ham with parsley mash, roasted artichokes and creamed cabbage. The fish can be cooked without ham for non-meat eaters.

Puddings have changed slightly with the Mobberley Mess taking on an Autumn taste as well as Golden Syrup Sponge with lemon curd and custard and Creamy Rice Pudding with whisky soaked sultanas and fresh raspberry jam being added to warm you up as winter approaches!!

The Cheese board has changed to feature purely British Cheeses and is now available for one as well as to share.

Lloyd and Ben are now working on the festive specials that will be available in December leading up to Christmas!!

Please look out for our foodie events between now and Christmas with ‘Seafood and wine week’ starting on Thursday 25th October and our Cheshire Game week starting on Thursday 22nd November.