The Bull in Ditchling wins ‘Best Pub and Bar’ award

The Bull in the village high street won the Pub and Bar Magazine award for 2021 after a tough year for UK hospitality during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“To have won such a prestigious award following 18 months of heartbreaking challenges is amazing,” said owner Dominic Worrall.

Dominic said he was thrilled for the team and said the award is a ‘fantastic recognition’ of their efforts.

“They have remained so wonderfully loyal, focussed purely on the welfare of others, while trying to deliver something that felt as ‘normal’ as possible,” he added.

Over the past year and a half The Bull has had to constantly adapt to new challenges and Covid restrictions.

It introduced a takeaway service, an essentials grocery store and a bottle shop during the first two lockdowns, and it installed a bespoke Bedouin Garden Tent in September.

The team have now been invited to attend the National Pub & Bar Awards Grand Final in London on September 6, where the magazine aims to celebrate all county winners and reveal which venues have won the national awards.

General manager Molly Raftery said: “We owe this award to my incredible team and, of course, customers who support us and make The Bull the very special place it is today.”

“They have trusted us to keep them safe, while offering them some refuge and escape,” she said, adding that the team are now ‘raising a glass to a brighter future’.

The Bull is a 16th century coaching inn that has won multiple awards.

It offers all-day dining in its bar and dining rooms and has six five-star rated boutique bedrooms.

The pub’s new tent space offers shelter from the summer sun as well as an outdoor casual dining menu.

This features home-made, stone-baked Neapolitan pizzas as well as pub classics.

Owners Dominic and Vanessa Worrall purchased The Bull in 2003 and have created a popular venue alongside general manager Molly Raftery.