In 2013, Jules Gray opened ‘a labour of beery love’: one of the first ‘drink in’ beer shops in the UK, the multiple award-winning Hop Hideout. Originally based in a former Yorkshire Penny Bank on Abbeydale Road, 2019 saw a move to the Kommune food hall in the centre of Sheffield.
Five years later, after the rigours of Covid, brought relocation to the Grade II listed, Leah’s Yard (S1 4HP) when, it reopened after restoration. This early 19th century site was originally built as small workshops for the manufacture of hand tools.
Brought up in County Durham, her journey to Sheffield included a bar-job in a local WMC, study at Sheffield Hallam University, time in both Birmingham and Manchester and after several other positions, working in technical support for a multi-national brewing company in Burton on Trent. After seven years, it was time to move on. A seminal conversation with Zak Avery, the founder of Beer Paradise and co-founder of Beer-Ritz (Leeds), led to an interesting question: ‘Why don’t you set up your own beer shop?’ The rest is history.
Jules also runs the annual Sheffield Beer Week (SBW, https://sheffieldbeerweek.co.uk/). This takes place during the second week in March, coinciding with International Women’s Day (8th). Organised by Jules and her colleague, Claire Tollick, the first incarnation in 2015, saw about ten venues, with events spread over the week: recent years have had over forty venues. SBW and Norwich City of Beer are the only two UK-based city-wide beer events which have been in place for over a decade.
She recalls the first year: ‘SBW was inspired by the early days of my newly launched beer business. I was getting excited by the independent beer sector. I noticed that there were lots of beer weeks in America, and also Norwich City of Ale was happening in the UK. It was joined up with the frustration of hearing a lot of people talk about near-by cities like Manchester or Leeds and not mentioning Sheffield. And living in the city and seeing it, a tangible beer history, culture, brewers … I was getting quite frustrated as to why people were not talking about Sheffield. And I thought wouldn’t it be great to shout more about the beer scene in the city that I had made my home. And I spoke to a friend who really supported the idea and about two months before the date we got the ball rolling.’
‘After the first-year people saw the economic benefits: increased footfall, a heightening awareness and celebrating venues, the breweries, and the culture, but also attracting people from outside the region to visit Sheffield to discover wonderful things that we sometimes take for granted. I just love it. I want people to get that joy and excitement across to other people. On the flip side you do need a bit of a cheerleader to raise awareness and join up the dots of the community. There is a tipping-point. You need more than one, it becomes a trail. You bounce off each other.’
The main aim of this independent beer focused event is to bring additional footfall. The first three years coincided with Sheffield hosting the annual SIBA Conference, this providing a ready source of beer-interested visitors. When the SIBA conference moved to Liverpool, Jules was both humbled, and reassured, by the local demand for SBW to continue. It was something people thought was really valuable.
She recalls: ‘At the time it felt like the local council weren’t valuing the culture, community and historic value of the brewing and beer sector, the businesses which were driving visitor footfall. This has definitely changed: momentum has grown. That momentum has led the Sheffield Inspires campaign to include ‘the Craft of Brewing’ as one of their five main strands. It’s been a gradual positive relationship development.’
In 2020, SBW was the last large beer event in the UK before lockdown. Personally, I recall leading a Pub Heritage Walk on Friday 13th March. This was my last ‘big go-out’ for a considerable period … 16th March saw official advice to avoid all non-essential contact, lockdown following on the 23rd. The following year saw a virtual event.
2026 brings the 12th incarnation: a week-long festival (6-15 March) celebrating the region’s brewing landscape. Collaboration is key with Sheffield’s bars, pubs and restaurants joining forces with both local organisations and local, national, and international breweries to host a large variety of events. I led my first SBW pub heritage walk from Fagan’s in 2017: this year, in collaboration with local historian, John Stocks, a talk, and a walk, will concentrate on Little Chicago.
SBW commences with Indie Beer Feast, a two-day celebration of independent craft beer: brewery bars, street food, low intervention wines, and fine cider.
Until 2020, this took place at Abbeydale Picture House. After a break due to Covid, 2022 saw a move to the 1930s industrial space of Trafalgar Warehouse.
As usual, 2026 will see several collaborative brews, all focused on the theme of Sheffield synth city: a tribute to the pioneering electronic music which the city has produced. For example, St.Mars of the Desert are hosting an, as yet, unannounced local band while relatively new breweries Duality and Ticking Clock are working together. Designed by Lewis Ryan, the visual map for the event is taking inspiration from the 1981 Human League album, Dare, while the botanical inspired artwork has been designed by local illustrator, Sanpo. There is also an input from well-known beer writer, Pete Brown, who at an event hosted by Hop Hideout, will be interviewed by music and culture writer Daniel Dylan Wray about matching beer and music.
As Jules put it: ‘‘Sheffield Synth City’ allows us to blend the creativity of our independent breweries with the ground-breaking spirit of our electronic music pioneers. It’s powerful to showcase how innovation thrives across all creative industries in the Steel City.”
Reflecting back on SBW, she comments: ‘it’s an umbrella event‘…it’s something customers love, it really chimes with them, it creates a good buzz and excitement. There are lots of positives: learning and knowledge transfer. From both a trade and customer perspective, customers love it.’
‘Sheffield has so many things, the Home of Football, electronic music legacy, beer, and brewing. I think people don’t mention Sheffield, City of Stainless Steel and what drives the brewing industry. We don’t mention the impact we’ve had in the sector. To me, that’s a massive light-bulb revelation.’
The invention of stainless steel is often credited to Sheffield native, Harry Brearley, who in 1913, discovered that adding chromium to molten iron created a rust-resistant alloy. Stainless Steel is extensively used worldwide as a key part of the brewing process, from coppers to fermenting vessels to casks … it is an often un-noticed, but crucial part of the contribution of Sheffield to the worldwide beer industry: Sheffield could be seen as the ‘Home of Modern Beer.’
Beer tourism is a crucial cog in Sheffield; the footfall and financial benefit is a win-win for the local hospitality and brewing industries. Sheffield Beer Week is a crucial part of this jigsaw. We hope you all have an enjoyable time when you visit the best beer city in the world.
