The Old Bull and Bush is a Grade II listed building in the Wokingham local planning authority area, England. First listed on 12 November 1951. Former inn. 2 related planning applications.
The Old Bull and Bush
- WRENN ID
- roaming-paling-burdock
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Wokingham
- Constituency
- Wokingham MP: Clive Jones (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 12 November 1951
- Type
- Former inn
- Address
- The Old Bull and Bush, Former Bush Hotel, 37, Market Place, RG40 1AT
- OS grid reference
- SU 812 686
- Coordinates
- 51.41067, -0.83327
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Old Bull and Bush is a former inn, now shops, dating to the late 15th century. It has undergone extensions and alterations in the 17th century, the late 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The building is constructed of timber framing, painted brick, and tile hanging, with a slate roof over the front section and old tile gabled roofs at the rear. It has a U-plan; the front section probably originally comprised four framed bays, with a yard entry in the second bay from the left, now covered. A rear eastern wing has nine framed bays, with the middle three bays representing the former hall, while the western rear wing has three framed bays, with a brick former stable at the end. The front section is three storeys and has a cellar, while the rear wings are one-and-a-half and two storeys high.
The road front has three bays, displaying sash windows with glazing bars on the tile-hung upper floors. There are two large flanking chimneys. The ground floor features rusticated brick piers between large 20th-century windows with glazing bars, supporting a frieze and dentilled cornice. The yard entry, formerly central, is now to the left.
The west rear wing has two framed bays of two storeys with thin framing on the first floor and painted brick infill, along with two- and three-light 19th-century casements. There is a central chimney on the ridge. The former stables, to the right and at the end of this wing, are of painted brick, with two gabled hay loading bays breaking the eaves, featuring planked doors. The ground floor has 20th-century two-light metal casements. The eastern rear wing is of timber framed bays, rendered and painted, with two tall chimneys on the rear slope. It has three large, early 19th-century sash windows with glazing bars on the ground floor, and 19th-century irregular two-light casements on the first floor.
Inside, much of the timber frame is visible in the eastern wing, including heavy beams and joists, jowled posts and arch braces. Sooted roof timbers are visible in the hall section. The cellar, probably partly 15th century in part, is made up of two cells, beneath the front section, and is partly of brick and conglomerate, with arched recesses under a chimney and a pointed niche in the north wall.
Local climate
The Old Bull and Bush sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 730 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 78% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 71% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 57% of listed buildings. Of these, 15 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 2 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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