Fifty years ago, in the summer of 1974, a new publication, ‘Parish Pump’ joined the printed material which jostled for space in our local pubs and clubs. This was the first edition of the new Sheffield and District CAMRA magazine: a few sides of A4 stapled together – very different from to-days professionally produced 32-page, full colour ‘Beer Matters.’
The intervening fifty years tell a tale of major changes in the Sheffield beer/pub scene, of large breweries closing, and, later, small breweries taking their place … of Sheffield becoming the cask beer capital of the world. Over fifty years, almost 600 editions of our free magazine have included month-by-month reporting of these many changes.
Parish Pump No.2 (6 September 1975) mentions that; ‘at least 25 of the 61 pubs in central Sheffield sell real ale although one’s choice is limited to our local Big Three.’ At that time, Sheffield had four large and long-established breweries; Stones Cannon Brewery (established: 1865), Wards Sheaf (1896), Whitbread Exchange (1851) and the often-forgotten Hope Brewery on Claywheels Lane (1939).
Fifty years later, none of these remain. However, the city now has 17 breweries. The oldest is Abbeydale, now an Employee Owned Trust, who celebrate their 30th anniversary next year. In 1975, when Abbeydale commenced, no-one would have predicted that, fifty years later, the 2025 Sheffield Beer Census would count almost 400 cask beers available on a single day: mostly on handpump.
From edition 33, September 1978, the format became A5 and the name changed to ‘Beer Matters.’ As stated at the time: ‘This month your local newsletter has a new name and format. The former is an attempt to get rid of the ecclesiastical connotations of the old name “Parish Pump”: the latter is in order to make the publication more convenient to handle and easier to read. We hope that you agree that an improvement has been made in both these respects.’
Over the years quality has improved: from four typed and stapled A4 sheets to a stapled A5 booklet to glossy publications and today’s excellent full-colour publication. The 1980s booklets required a ‘Beer Matters stapling social’ to put together the four A4 sheets (16 pages) in the correct order. I recall attending these monthly meetings in the Sheaf View (Bramall Lane). Here, lots of paper was delivered from the printer and large staplers were put to good effect. Since then, the branch has aimed to produce eleven issues annually: monthly with a winter double issue. Issue 500 was in September 2019. There has also been the occasional hiatus: for example, Covid saw a gap from April 2020 until our return in September 2021.
Local CAMRA meetings were the original information conduit to the editor. Today, in addition to the various meetings, internet resources are extensively utilised. Over the years, ‘Beer Matters’ has included innumerable stories. For example:
11: 1976: includes the news that ‘a beer exhibition venue has been found’ : this was the second Sheffield Beer Festival – next year will see the 50th.
190: November 1991: ’21 Not Out,’ CAMRA was 21 years old
281: August 1999: ‘Wards laid to Rest,’ the closure of Wards Brewery
399: July 2010: the first colour cover
500: September 2019: includes several retrospective contributions
520: February 2023: Tom and Barbara retire after over 37 years at Fagan’s
Beer Matters has had hundreds of contributors and many editors. Their roll of honour is listed. In addition to these editors, thanks also need to be given to Robin Lunnon for linking the magazine to our website and bringing design forward into the digital era.
Thanks to all who have contributed over the last fifty years: let’s all drink to the next fifty!
Editors of the Sheffield & District CAMRA magazine:
Parish Pump:
1 – 14: Colin Walker, Tony Scholes
15- 27: John Kidd, Geoff Jenkins
28 – 32: Geoff Jenkins, David Grey
Beer Matters:
33 – 40: Geoff Jenkins, David Grey
41 – 54: David Grey, Terry Fellows
55: Terry Fellows, Norman Spalding
56: Terry Fellows
57 – 59: Terry Fellows, Mike & Joanne Taylor
60: Terry Fellows
61 – 64: Terry Fellows, Carole Ware
65 – 79: Carole Ware
80 – 112: Iain Colquhoun
113 – 148: Adrian Staton
149 -175: Lis Colquhoun (Lis Hensman from 155)
176 – 220: Mike Hensman
221 – 237: Adrian Staton
238 – 265: David Staves
266 – 276: Richard Hough & Kathryn Page
277 – 282: David Staves
283 – 284: Linda Hutton
285 – 292: Ieuan Willis
293 – 295: Tim Stillman
296 – 330: Paul Goddard
331 – 474: Andy Cullen
475 – 495: Dom.Nelson
496 – to date: Andy Cullen
