The Bulls Head, standing adjacent to the Bull Ring, is older than the former Crown Inn (the other public house in the district) and is reputed locally to be the second oldest licensed house in the county, the first being the Seven Stars at Ketley (now known as the Elephant and Castle). At the time research was carried out in the 1950’s the former owners, Wrekin Brewery Company, had no evidence to prove this however.

The Bulls Head is known to have been a resort of cockfighting miners earlier than the records go back. The rear part of the building contains much black and white construction and it is reported that at one time it had some of the Rodington House land with it. While there is no record of this since 1840 it is not improbable that the Bull may have been a farm and perhaps the farmhouse of what is now Rodington House Farm, before the present Georgian House was built.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Bulls Head was purchased by the Wrekin Brewery Company from G J Holt & Sons of Shrewsbury in 1921, the Holt family (wine merchants) having purchased it in 1904 from R Broome whose tenant at the time was Mrs. Phillips.

Ownership would have passed to Greenall Whitley in 1966, when Wrekin Brewery was bought out by the company, who were interested in acquiring its public houses to promote its own beers. Wrekin Brewery itself was closed 3 years later, bringing a 100 year tradition of brewing to an end.

Christine Evans, daughter of the former licencees who ran the pub in the late 1960’s, made the following observations about what the Bull was like at that time:

“The Bulls Head Rodington was nothing like it is today when my parents took it over in 1967,,,it had five bedrooms, two at the back and three at the front, which were equipped with hand basins for overnight guests, The kitchen was for our private use, our living and dining room was at the far end of the now pub lounge.

The pub had two small snugs at the front which did very little trade. The bar at the back was where the main trade took place. Monday was a quiet night but every other night it seemed packed to the rafters. It was then the hub of the village as most people didn’t travel, so did their drinking locally at the Bull or the Crown, which was still open for the first few years after we moved in.

There was a domino and a two darts teams, ladies & mens, also a football team which had a good following of supporters. Later the regulars helped to form the Bulls Head Social Club which organised day trips, dinner dances, christmas parties and the Rodington Carnival.

Licensing was very different – Sunday 12 – 2pm & 7-10pm, Saturday 10.30 – 2.30pm, 6.30pm – ,Weekdays 10.30 -2.30pm, 6.30 – 10.30″