Home > Lincolnshire > Long Sutton > Bull Hotel Bull Hotel
Date of photo: 1989	Picture source: Michael Croxford
The Bull Hotel was situated on the Market Place. This pub was present by 1842 when the publican was Edward Cole.
I was on a cycle tour, I believe in the late 1980’s, and using the CAMRA beer guide as a map when I chanced on the Bull Hotel to see if I could find a room for the night. I recall there was a bar with separate drinking rooms, the barmaid went to fetch the elderly landlady who when seeing a cyclist starting to relate stories of the pub and cycling. She told me that the pub was on the 24 hour cycle route and that as a child before the war she used to stay up and supporters would provide the cyclists with jam sandwiches and cake and themselves drink into the night. She put my bike into a vintage fully equipped gas powered kitchen that looked like it dated from the 1920’s and before I retired asked if I would like a proper cyclist’s breakfast in the morning. I went into the a large dining room on the first floor, fully laid out but I was the only guest. After some time a dumb waiter showed signs of life and about five minutes later mine host arrived and placed a large dining plate with fried potatoes, sausages, bacon, tomatoes, toast and bread and a spare large plate with a centre piece pile of fried potato surrounded by additional sausages and bacon. In her honour, and as she expected, I ate the lot, thanked her (and she thanked me) and then then cycled out of town. Once out of Long Sutton and got off my bike and laid in a field for an hour before I was able to resume my ride. A really memorable occasion, pub and person.
Keith Frost (November 2018)
I was working in the area with three colleagues as a Lloyds Bank audit team in December 1986 and we stayed at The Bull Hotel Long Sutton for a week. It was memorable for a number of reasons. The elderly lady running the place was Mrs Mitchell, who we understood to be one of the Mitchells of Bass, Mitchell's and Butler brewery. She had an amazing stock of vintage port in the cellar, which we saw but didn't try, regrettably! Fortunately she did keep a good pint of Bass, which kept us happy. The meals taken on the first floor were substantial, delivered by the dumb waiter as mentioned by the previous contributor, and invariably included mashed potato, including breakfast. We suspected Mrs Mitchell lived off it exclusively. I found my room to be quite comfortable with the bed warmed by an aluminium hot water, which explained the strange lump under the blankets. Being close to The Wash, the hotel was popular with wild fowl hunters, and Mrs Mitchell told us that the actor James Robertson-Justice was often a resident for that purpose, sometimes with Prince Philip. Market Day was very busy but Mrs Mitchell would leave the farmers to it and it would become an honesty bar. I'm sure she knew them all well and could trust them. Towards the end of our stay, shortly after going to bed after a few pints, we were called downstairs to find our Bank car ablaze in the courtyard behind the hotel. A passing resident on his way back from a darts match had called the fire brigade, but the car was gutted despite their efforts. Our junior team member had to go to London by train the next day to pick up a pool car. A couple of months later we learned that it was in fact the darts player who had set the blaze before dialing 999! Our stay at The Bull Hotel was certainly a memorable experience.
John Greenwood (December 2022)
I have very fond memories of The Bull in Long Sutton and especially it’s  idiosyncratically delightful hostess, Mrs Mitchell.Throughout most of the ‘80s I stayed at The Bull with three fellow wildfowlers. The principal of the honesty bar was alive and meticulously observed by locals and outsiders alike. I recall the aluminium hot water bottles. We would be up and off to the marshes by 5.00 am invariably returning empty handed. One year we did manage to account for a singularly unfortunate goose in recognition of which on our return an astonished but delighted Mrs Mitchell sported us champagne with breakfast.
Tom Harrison (January 2025)
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Other Photos
Date of photo: 1989	Picture source: Michael Croxford
Date of photo: 1989	Picture source: Michael Croxford
Picture source: David Gray
Date of photo: 2016	Picture source: John Greenwood