Andy has been actively involved in CAMRA since the early 2000s after being recruited to sit on a National Younger Members Task Group.
Since then he has held roles on the branch committee including Secretary, Membership Secretary, Magazine Editor, Chair and now Social Secretary.
Andy has also been involved with the Steel City Beer & Cider Festival almost every year since becoming active in the branch.
New from Dead Parrot Brewery on the bar at Perch in March was “Hill”, an American Pale Ale brewed with Aurora hops. It is 4.2% ABV and has a strong grapefruit character to it!
Recent brews at Blue Bee includes American 5 hop version 88 which involves lots of Columbus hops along with Simco, Chinook and others; a new session pale ale involving pink hops plus a special house beer for Itchy Pig Alehouse in Banner Cross brewed with Simcoe, Mosaic and Chinook hops.
Another new beer from Drone Valley Brewery, who are celebrating their 10th anniversary this year, is Volunteer Pale Ale, celebrating that most of the brewery’s staff are volunteers raising money for local good causes.
April 2026 saw Bradfield Brewery celebrate their 21st birthday and a new beer released in bottles – Farmers Imperial Milk Stout. It is 7.4% ABV, rich and full bodied with notes of cocoa, liquorice and dried fruit in the taste, carrying through to a lasting creamy finish thanks to the addition of lactose.
New from Duality Brew Co in cask, keg and can is Twist the Arrows, a 4.5% ABV hazy pale ale. It is brewed with generous quantities of Simcoe, Azacca and El Dorado hops offering a juicy character with subtle dank edge underneath and fairly low bitterness.
Triple Point have released a Blood Orange flavoured version of their Cryo Pale Ale.
Tapped Brew Co have updated their branding with new round pump clips. Seen on the bar of the Sheffield Tap launching the new look line up was Brook (Porter), Sheaf Street (session IPA), Mojo (session pale) and Bramling (Golden Ale).
At the Brewery of St Mars of the Desert the arrival of spring meant two things – the tap room opening for the 2026 season and the release of Fleurs de Printemps (Spring Flowers), a 5.4% ABV Belgian inspired blonde ale.
Neepsend Brewery cask ales recently seen on the bar at the Wellington (their tap pub next to Shalesmoor tram stop) include Dolcita (4.5% ABV pale ale brewed with Citra and Dolcita hops), Athena (6.4% ABV New England IPA brewed with Citra, Amarillo and El Dorado hops), Vulcan (3.9% ABV traditional bitter brewed with Challenger and EKG hops) – plus of course their regular beer, Blonde, which is a 4% ABV Gluten free ale brewed with Cascade, Chinook and Brewers Gold hops.
Thornbridge Brewery are now several months into their 2026 “Year of Beer” monthly specials, on cask April saw the release of Quasar, a 4.5% ABV European pale ale whilst on keg it was Golden Spike, a 5.7% ABV West Coast IPA. Coming up in May on cask is Present, a 3.8% ABV coffee mild, then in June look out for Long Days – a 4.6% ABV summer ale.
A planning application to set up a nanobrewery in the Meersbrook area has been submitted by Christopher Derbyshire, known for his work as a brewer at Heist.
CAMRA Sheffield & District had been doing this survey for many years now, ever since Derby tried to attract tourists by publicly claiming their city as the Real Ale Capital of Britain. Derby does indeed have some great pubs, a few microbreweries and a good choice of beer, however we knew Sheffield was better and in an act of friendly rivalry, started an annual survey to count how many different cask ales were available on the bars of our proud city to prove we were indeed the true Beer Capital of Britain. Some other cities have joined in over the years such as York and Norwich, all failing to beat us!
We’ve also seen respected beer writer Pete Brown commissioned in conjunction with the University of Sheffield to publish a report on Sheffield’s beer scene to prove it is the best beer city!
We still do an annual beer census, these days it is a way of taking the pulse of Sheffield’s beer scene and comparing data year on year, seeing how many beers are available, which breweries are most represented and other such trending statistics.
The 2026 census will take place on Saturday 30 May and we need as much help as possible! On this day we are asking folk visiting pubs in Sheffield to record which cask ales are on the bar by logging them online at sheffield.beer/survey. You can do that under your own steam or alternatively by joining one of our organised survey crawls, if there is a group it will be more social as well as sometimes being able to split up briefly to cover more pubs!
The daytime crawls start in the suburbs at midday and work their way towards the City Centre. We’ll all then meet up in the Red Deer at 6:30pm with the option of then doing evening surveys around central Sheffield. An all day travel pass such as CityWide could prove good value.
CROOKES & WALKLEY – meet at the Walkley Cottage, leader TBC
HILLSBOROUGH, LOXLEY & BRADFIELD – meet at the Park Hotel, leader TBC
NEEPSEND & KELHAM ISLAND – meet at the Gardeners Rest, led by Dan Rowe
FULWOOD, NETHER GREEN & BROOMHILL – meet at the Rising Sun, led by Phil Ellett
WOODSEATS & HEELEY – meet at Guzzle micropub, led by Malcolm Dixon
TOTLEY, MILLHOUSES & ABBEYDALE ROAD – meet at the Cross Scythes, led by Andy Cullen
BANNER CROSS & ECCLESALL ROAD – meet at the Itchy Pig Ale House, led by Paul Manning.
BEIGHTON, HALFWAY, WOODHOUSE & HANDSWORTH – meet at the Scarsdale Hundred Wetherspoon, led by Mike Cooke.
CHAPELTOWN, ECCLESFIELD & MEADOWHALL – leader still needed!
We’re pleased to announce our 50th Steel City Beer & Cider Festival is now confirmed! Our team of volunteers on the organising committee are well into the planning process for this event and are able to share some details to help you look forward to visiting or even getting involved! The dates for your diary are 21-24 October 2026.
Once again the festival is being held at the atmospheric Kelham Island Museum, a venue full of character with bars, food vendors, games, live music and more spread across several areas including the upper hall, Victorian courtyard and Stone Garden.
The bars will all together boast a range of about 200 cask ales, all of which we aim to have on sale on the first night and available until they run out, along with a list of 70 other craft beers in keg which will be on rotation. There will also be 30 different ciders and perries to try.
On the Wednesday evening we’ll be judging the Champion Beer of Sheffield & District competition and announcing the winners, Thursday night we have live music from Highway Child and Friday night on stage is Soul Battalion.
Saturday afternoon as usual Loxley Silver Band will be playing and Kelham Rapper will be dancing, after which we have The 88s on stage.
It is expected that there will also be demonstration runs of the museum’s River Don Steam Engine at various times during the festival.
A range of food vendors will be open throughout the festival including Yuleys Bratwurst, Sunshine Pizza, Smith’s Fish & Chips, Caribbean fusion, Taco Trailer, Cheese Factor and Fairfax Chocolatiers & Spirits. They will be spread across the upper hall, Victorian Courtyard (outside marquee) and Stone Garden (outside the keg bar).
The festival will be open on Wednesday 21 October from 5pm (4pm for CAMRA members and industry folk) to 10:30pm, Thursday 22 and Friday 23 October from 11:30am to 10:30pm then finally Saturday 24 October from 11am to 9pm.
We also have a programme of special talks, tours and tastings you can choose to add to your festival experience which we reccomend booking in advance:
Wednesday 19:00 – Beer & Music pairing with Pete Brown: Join award-winning beer writer and broadcaster Pete Brown for a one-of-a-kind audio-visual beer tasting experience, based on the fascinating research behind his latest book – Tasting Notes: The art and science of pairing beer and music.
Thursday 11:30 – Little Chicago: A guided historical walk in Sheffield’s Little Chicago Quarter. We will explore both the pub heritage aspects of the area plus the streets which feature in the book, ‘Sheffield 1925: Gang Wars and Wembley Glory,’ with a narrative explaining how Sheffield briefly became the most turbulent city in Britain because of an escalating gang war involving the Park Brigade, Mooney Gang, the Gas Tank Gang and many others. The walk will be led by ‘Sheffield’s Real Heritage Pubs’ editor, Dave Pickersgill and local historian and writer, John Stocks.
Thursday 17:00 – Kelham Island Brewery: This talk will be led by four key members of the team at Kelham Island Brewery: Tom Clay (Sales & Brand Director) and three of the Owner/Directors: Jim Harrison, James O’Hara and Simon Webster. The presenters will look back to the history of the Fat Cat and Kelham Island Brewery, lauding the pioneering work of Dave Wickett and celebrating the long-term influences of both the pub and the brewery on todays UK Indie beer scene before looking to the future.
Thursday 19:00 – Abbeydale Brewery: A tutored beer tasting and discussion led by experts from the oldest established brewery in Sheffield, which as of 2024 is wholly employee owned. This event will explore the depth and breadth of the Abbeydale range as they celebrate their 30th anniversary. Last year (2025) Abbeydale produced over 200 Bbl./week of which over 75% was cask. They produce at least one new beer each week, including both the Funk Dungeon and Dr.Morton’s brands. The latter is a tribute to the owners with the former highlighting their barrel ageing project.
Entry is free on Wednesday, £5 on Thursday and £8 on Friday and Saturday. If you are a CAMRA member show your current valid membership card on the gate to enjoy free entry at all sessions – if you were thinking of joining CAMRA it will pay to do so before the festival! There is no advance booking required, just turn up and pay on the gate. Entry is of course subject to capacity so get down early if you can!
Additionally you’ll need to buy a souvenir glass for £3 which all your drinks will be served in, you can either keep it to take home or return it at the end for a refund. We’ll also have printed programmes available for £1 for those that want one, alternatively all the same information including the beer list will be available on the festival website.
The festival bars will take a choice of card/contactless or token payments for drinks, if you only have cash you can buy £5 token cards from the sales desks in the marquee and upper hall.
SCAN THE QR CODES BELOW TO BOOK THE SPECIAL EVENT ADD ONS
Pete Brown Beer & Music pairing talkLittle Chicago guided walkKelham Island Brewing Co talkAbbeydale Brewery tutored tasting
Following on from our series of guide to Peak District pubs in our branch area served by bus, attention turns to a bus that links Sheffield with a bit of the Peak District that isn’t on our patch (Owler Bar is Dronfield branch and Baslow/Bakewell is Chesterfield branch) but passes a few often overlooked Sheffield pubs along the way as well as providing useful connections within the Peak District.
TM Travel bus 218 runs from Sheffield to Bakewell via Sharrow, Banner Cross, Ecclesall, Totley, Owler Bar and Baslow. You can change buses in Baslow onto the Andrews 257 to Calver, Stoney Middleton and Eyam whilst in Bakewell you can pick up the Andrews 173 to Great Longstone, Monsal Head, Wardlow Mires, Litton, Tideswell and Bradwell. Some journeys operate via Chatsworth House and in the summer you can join the Peak Sightseer open top bus tours there.
The 218 runs every half hour in the daytime, seven days a week. There is also a limited evening service Monday to Saturday with the last departure from Bakewell to Sheffield at 11:10pm.
A single fare is capped at £3 per ride, alternatively a choice of all day passes are available – a day ticket just for TM Travel services costs £7.90 whilst a Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket that includes all buses in the area (except for the open top sightseeing tour) costs £9.
A traditional style multi roomed pub with large beer offering, reopened in 2015 following a sympathetic refurbishment. The changing beer range is sourced mainly from local and regional micro breweries, with six cask beers and up to 11 craft keg beers. There is also a quality spirits offering. The large beer garden has a heated, covered area.
Operated by Thornbidge Brewery. Formerly three rooms around a central bar but now opened out but retaining distinct areas. A conservatory leads into the pleasant garden. A total of eight cask ales are offered, with two regular Thornbridge beers, an additional six changing Thornbridge beers, and two guest beers. Small library in the front left corner. Card payment only
Micropub which has six hand pumps and 12 keg lines, serving a rotating list of guest beers, often locally sourced. One hand pump is usually for cider. Two of the keg lines are dedicated to a cider and a low alcohol beer. Outdoor seating is available.
Latest addition to Ecclesall Road drinking scene, opened January 2022 in former Lloyds bank building from which it derives its name. Open plan room micropub. Modern style layout with a mixture of booths and high tables. Three cask pumps on the bar.
Two roomed locals pub retaining a traditional two room taproom and lounge format. Upstairs there is a games room with pool tables. Refurbished 2016. Several large HD screens showing sports, including a big 10 foot screen.
Large suburban dining focused pub operated by Mitchells & Butlers. Several different seating areas on varying levels around a central L shaped bar. Quiz nights Mondays and Wednesdays.
Former Stone’s pub, now part of the Ember Inns chain, in an upmarket area close to Ecclesall Woods. Now open plan but retaining several distinct seating areas around the central bar. An extension to the rear provides a restaurant area.
Small micropub on two floors – the bar is on the ground floor with the majority of the seating downstairs. There is a single handpump offering a changing cask ale plus a range of other beers on keg – a mixture of craft and mainstream, plus a decent selection of cans and bottles. Pies are available at the weekend whilst stocks last.
Imposing pub, hotel and restaurant operated by the Northern Collective who also have food & drink venues in Dore, Hathersage and Castleton. Smart and food led but still welcoming with a relaxed atmosphere.
Grade II listed 19th century turnpike inn, now a refurbished dining pub. A good choice of four real ales are offered. Part of the Longbow Hospitality group.
Modern, welcoming downstairs bar with two locally sourced real ales available, along with a limited selection of interesting bottled beers. Upstairs is an award winning restaurant serving excellent food, with various deals running throughout the week.
Tastefully refurbished with a strong emphasis on food, although still retaining the bar area. Two changing beers, some locally sourced. Now has a house beer from Eyam Brewery.
Grade II listed building in the heart of Bakwell. Popular with locals it is a wet led town centre Pub with a long single roomed bar, plus games room with pool table and dart board. Regular Marstons beers are served with up to four guest beers mainly from local breweries. Serves Meals Lunchtime on Mondays only which is Market Day in Bakewell.
This very welcoming pub lies adjacent to the river bridge. In addition to the split level interior there is an outside area by the main road through the town. Very popular at mealtimes. 10% CAMRA discount now available here. Open for Breakfasts in the morning.
A 17th Century Coaching Inn with oak beams and open fires, situated on the A619 in the centre of this historic market town.The pub has five en-suite double bedrooms.Real Ales include two permanent Timothy Taylor and two regularly Changing Beers typically Bradfield Farmers Blonde. Dog friendly in tap room only.
Traditional Robinsons hotel and pub with separate tap room, very popular with the locals. There is a large beer garden and parking facilities, situated close to Bakewell town centre. There are three cask offerings with Unicorn and Dizzy Blond as regulars and another changing Robinsons beer. Food service at lunchtimes and early evenings. Regular live music and a weekly pub quiz. There is a range of accommodation available, check out their website for details.
Small friendly town centre micro pub with stylish interior and warm fireplace for cold winter evenings. Outside seating available outside on main street during warmer months. Six regularly changing cask ales and six craft keg ales available, sourced locally, as are the selection of wines, gins and whiskies. There are often vegan beers on tap.
The Tap Room, situated at the Thornbridge brewery features a spacious shop and a comfortable seating area. Located just a 15-minute stroll from Bakewell town centre on the Riverside Industrial Estate (buses 173 and Transpeak also go there, as does the Peak Sightseer Red route). Excellent freshly handmade pizzas are served daily. The bar showcases a selection of four cask and sixteen keg lines, with all beers available in thirds, halves, and pints, and the option for beer flights with three selections. Regular music and social events are held monthly (check website for details). Pre-booked brewery tours are also available to explore the brewing process. Card payment only.
A short bus ride from Bakewell on the Transpeak, 173, 257a or Peak Sightseer Red Tour to Ashford in the Water will bring you to the Ashford Arms and Bull’s Head.
23 May sees the launch of the 2026 season for the Peak Sightseer open top bus tours. There will be one feeder trip from South Sheffield in the morning, departing Meadowhead at 09:54 and running via Woodseats, Millhouses and Totley to Chatsworth, returning from Chatsworth at 17:43. Inbetween those times tours will run hourly from Chatsworth to Bakewell (Red route) and Chatsworth to Mam Tor (Blue route). The price of a Peak Sightseer ticket is £14 for adults and £9.50 for concessions, this allows you to hop on and off as much as you like. See stagecoachbus.com for more details.
April saw the Department for Transport publish their “Better Connected” strategy for joined up transport. Much of this was about improving and standardising online information and ticketing with selected digital partner companies, however of perhaps more interesting for us was the announcement that £6m of funding had been awarded to run a pilot of the proposed “Mini Switzerland” network in the Peak District.
The “Mini Switzerland” concept sees a bus network that runs to a clockface timetable every hour that is designed to connect with Hope Valley trains at Grindleford, Hathersage, Bamford, Hope and Edale stations with core corridors of Castleton to Hathersage and Calver to Eyam offering a bus every 20 minutes. The idea is you can get a train into the Hope Valley every hour and connect into a conveniently timed bus to the villages not served by train all day every day the trains operate and all on one combined ticket.
The proposed network includes:
existing bus 272 Sheffield-Castleton every hour via Hathersage, Bamford station and Hope
existing bus 257 Sheffield-Bakewell every hour via Bamford village, Hathersage, Calver and Eyam
existing bus 173 Castleton-Bakewell increased to every hour via Hope, Bradwell and Tideswell
existing bus 65 Sheffield-Buxton every alternate hour via Grindleford, Calver, Eyam, Tideswell and Litton supplemented by bus 66 Chesterfield-Tideswell via Calver and Eyam with the two routes combining to provide an hourly service Calver-Tideswell.
new hourly service 256 Castleton to Eyam via Hope, Bamford station, Hathersage and Baslow (a combination of existing services 272 and 257).
new hourly service 258 between Bamford station, Bamford village, Yorkshire Bridge and Fairholmes visitor centre (Derwent dams)
existing service 62 amended to run Edale to Buxton every alternate hour
new minibus services 63 and 64 operating a circular route between Edale station and Castleton (one via Hope, the other via Winnats pass).
If you’ve been following our guides to Peak District pubs in our branch area along bus routes or live in this part of the Peak District, you’ll realise that these changes could represent game changing improvements that will make lots of great country pubs much easier to get to, especially where evening and Sunday services are introduced on routes that don’t currently have them.
We await details of when the project will actually be delivered and whether it will be the same as the above proposal in the consultation document.
One small development already implemented however is on route 272 with a bus from Castleton to Sheffield added at 11:59pm (midnight ish) on Friday and Saturday nights.
Meanwhile in Sheffield, The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) is working towards phase one of bus franchising with whoever wins the contract taking over services that operate out of Olive Grove depot (currently the base for First bus who have sold the depot to SYMCA) from autumn 2027. SYMCA currently have a public consultation survey on their website regarding priorities for improving bus services when they take over the whole network, the survey is open until 17 May.
One recent improvement that has happened in Sheffield is the addition of a Sunday service on routes 61/62 between Hillsborough and Bradfield, this is being operated by First bus under contract to SYMCA. Timetables and live tracking is available at bustimes.org.
A new micropub, the Tram Stop Tavern, is proposed in Hillsborough and is currently going through the process of gaining planning permission. This will see the owners of Pro Property convert their shop unit into a bar. The location is at the outbound Hillsborough Park tram stop, opposite Pangolin craft beer bar/shop and just up from the Beekeeper micropub.
Little John Hotel in Hathersage closed for refurbishment following a change of management there. It has now relaunched looking rather smart inside and out, the table football has gone but there is still a pool table! This pub with rooms is now part of the Northern Collective who run a number of other venues including the Bank House in Hathersage and the Cross Scythes in Totley. The bar features three cask ales among its offering.
Dog & Partridge in Sheffield City Centre are celebrating their Sheffield City Centre Pub of the Year award with a special beer in collaboration with Abbeydale Brewery. “Hair of the Dog” is a 4.3% ABV pale ale brewed with Galaxy, Simcoe and Idaho 7 hops and 10p from the sale of every pint will be donated to the Rain Rescue charity.
Red Deer on Pitt Street, in Sheffield City Centre, is under new management and is running a cask club promotion on Thursdays (2pm to 11pm) with real ales priced at £3.50 a pint.
Cricket Inn at Totley have refurbished their parlour room.
Anchor near Tideswell has introduced a beer collector card – get it stamped each time you buy a pint of Robinson’s Trooper, Unicorn or Dizzy Blonde and when you collect eight stamps you can exchange the card for a free pint!
Trippets on Trippet Lane, a bar offering live jazz music, wine & spirits and dining have announced they are closing on 18 April due to significantly rising costs (including business rates and rent) and unpredictable trade making it unviable.
White Swan at Greenhill and Sportsman at Norton Lees have recently had a change of management.
Greene King are advertising for a new tenant to take on the Shepley Spitfire in Totley as one of their Hive franchises. Lesley, Louise and Nicole’s last day running the pub was Thursday 16 April.
Bridge Inn opposite Rotherham Central station, which is currently closed and empty following a change of ownership, has been added to a local heritage list.
Eyam Brewery Tap & Shop in Tideswell reopened Easter weekend. They now have planning permission to convert the industrial unit into a tap room, shop and kitchen although a condition the Peak Park authority have included is that anyone arriving by car has to have their details logged! They are still trading on temporary events notices so only opening at weekends. Now they have planning permission they have been able to go through the licence application process which once obtained will see building work begin to install an open kitchen and be able to offer food. Until then there will be occasional pop ups from traders like Sunshine Pizza and TJ Smash Burgers. If you fancy a trip there buses 65 and 173 stop on the main road nearby.
The current management at the Olde Bowling Green Inn in Bradwell has signed a 5 year lease on the pub.
Mount Pleasant in Norton Lees is temporarily closing for its long awaited refurbishment.
Sportsman Inn in Norton Lees has closed with the management there moving on to turn around a failing pubco venue elsewhere. Real ale had been successfully reintroduced here as well as being host to various social and community groups. The pub is to be refurbished for a new tenant.
Cross Scythes at Norton Lees has seen some internal changes to make it feel multi roomed and cosy and also now has a food offering. The same manager has now also taken on the Old Crown on London Road, still no real ale available here at present though.
Albionon London Road, Stancill’s brewery tap, has a new manager.
Pubs around the Kelham Island area including Shakespeares and Harlequin report being incredibly busy over the Easter weekend due to Kelham Festival and Sheffield Folk Music Sessions Festival taking place in the area. Other upcoming events in the area include Get Together Festival (16 May) and Kelham Pride (20 June).
Devonshire Arms in Dore reopened as planned under new management following a refurbishment.
Cherry Tree Inn on Carterknowle Avenue in Millhouses, now has four regularly changing cask ales including Abbeydale’s Daily Bread bitter at a reasonable £3.70 per pint.
The newly opened Pig & Whistle at Gleadless Townend has now established itself and proving popular. It has a regularly changing range of craft beers including two cask ales alongside some more mainstream options and has a regular program of events including street food pop ups, quiz nights, live entertainment and tasting evenings. They are also planning to start offering coffee and cake too!
Beer Central in the Moor indoor market has ceased trading. We’re sorry to see them go and thank them for their support over the years. Other specialist beer shops available around Sheffield to satisfy your quality home drinking needs include Hop Hideout, The Dram Shop in Walkley, La Di Da in Chapeltown, Archer Road Beer Stop in Millhouses and Mitchells at Meadowhead.
The relatively recently relaunched Boddingtons cask Bitter, brewed by JW Lees under licence, has been spotted on this side of the Pennines at the Ranmoor Inn, Bath Hotel and Beer House S6.
White Hart Inn at Bradwell celebrates being 350 years old this year and will be holding a party later in the summer. Obviously it hasn’t been under the same management that long of course and is currently operated by Bradfield Brewery.
Garry Scott, landlord of the Red Lionon Charles Street in Sheffield City Centre, recently celebrated 40 years in the business with a bit of a do in his pub on 17 April featuring a DJ and buffet.
Big Tree on Woodseats, a Greene King pub, has been closed for refurbishment and the grand reopening is planned for 1 May after which we are promised it’ll be “bigger, better and louder than ever” with live entertainment and big sports atmosphere on the reopening weekend.
The owner of the Tunnel Tap micropub at Totley Rise has handed over full responsibility for ordering beer to manager Jess who is now enjoying getting some of her favourite craft beers on the guest taps and handpump alongside the four Thornbridge beers. There is also a change being made to their pie offering, this used to be a Friday night thing with a tray of freshly baked pies delivered and available that weekend until they sell out (usually fairly quickly), in the future a wider range of pies will be delivered frozen and heated up in an air fryer when ordered, this will mean more variety and availability every day they are open.
George Inn in Tideswell, which is now operated by Atlantik Inns (leased from Greene King), has the kitchen and hotel rooms back up and running as well as a diary of events planned for the year ahead. The food is billed as proper pub food done right and is served from midday until 8pm on weekdays, midday to 6pm Saturdays and Sundays. Three cask ales are on the bar, all usually well known brands like Timothy Taylor’s Landlord, Theakston Old Peculiar and Greene King Old Speckled Hen.
Fuggle Bunny Brew House continue with their programme of tap room openings every Friday plus the last Saturday of the month. The Fridays are just like a local pub whilst the Saturdays are something a bit more special, usually featuring a street food trader and entertainment. The 25 April event is open 3-9pm with hot pork sandwiches available and live music at 5pm provided by Sean Stevens.
Commercial in Chapeltown is running a European beer & food festival during May.
Our March Pub of the month award winner was the Two & Six Micropub in Sheffield City Centre.
The certificate was presented to Juliet and Dan by our Beer Matters magazine editor Andy Cullen.
Almost all the beers on the bar were from local breweries as part of their Sheffield Beer Week celebrations and customers were treated to some lovely complimentary sandwiches too!
CAMRA is considered one of the most successful consumer organisations across Europe. Founded by four real ale enthusiasts back in 1971, today we represent beer drinkers and pub-goers across the UK.
Our vision is to have quality real ale, cider and perry and thriving pubs in every community. Our mission is to promote and advocate:
the production, availability and consumption of quality real ale, cider and perry
pubs and clubs as social centres and part of the UK’s cultural heritage
the benefits of responsible social drinking
We do this by supporting and encouraging the beer and pubs trade by running beer festivals, lobbying Government for change, running numerous awards and developing bespoke pub finders and guides.
There’s plenty for everyone, whether you’re a dedicated campaigner, a beer connoisseur looking to learn more about beer or just want to meet up with friends in your local.
Benefits of being a member include various discount schemes with partner businesses and access to lots of online content including Learn & Discover articles and videos, What’s Brewing online newspaper and Beer Magazine. Members also get cheaper entry into CAMRA beer festivals and discounts on CAMRA books, including the annual Good Beer Guide. You also get a higher level of access to CAMRA’s online pub guide – you can sign in and rate your beer, submit updates and also see which pubs have been awarded a place in the Good Beer Guide. All this can be found at camra.org.uk.
To really make the most of your membership however we recommend getting involved with the local volunteer run branch – we’re Sheffield & District, covering the city plus a big chunk of North Derbyshire. We run regular socials for members, have a programme of pub awards which are nominated and voted for by members, we have this monthly magazine (we need volunteers to write content and distribute copies to pubs) and organise the annual Steel City Beer & Cider Festival.
You can find out more about what is happening in our local branch online at sheffield.camra.org.uk.
Other nearby branches include Barnsley, Rotherham, North Notts, Dronfield, Chesterfield, Matlock & Dales and High Peak.
BRANCH AGM – all Sheffield & District CAMRA members are invited to attend our formal annual general meeting, the venue is the Two & Six micropub in Sheffield City Centre (gallery room) on Saturday 9 May. The normal monthly branch meeting follows.
The opening date of the Watt Bar on Charles Street in Sheffield City Centre has been announced – Friday 27 March at midday. You’ll find it between the Red Lion and Rutland Arms in a former electricity sub station and they plan on opening all day, serving coffee and brunch in the morning from 9am with food continuing through the afternoon up to 9pm with Creole inspired dishes and DJs on in the evening.
The Beer Engine on Cemetery Road no longer serves food with the rising cost of operation making it unviable. They continue to open serving beer Tuesday to Saturday.
The Devonshire Arms in Dore has had a change of management. It initially closed for a refurbishment, reopening at 5pm on 20 March. and is now the third pub leased by Tom South and his team, who also operate the Castle Inn at Bradway.
The proposed JD Wetherspoons branch at Valley Centertainment has been given planning permission by Sheffield City Council. This will see the former Chiquito restaurant converted into a pub.
A little more about the new owners of the Green Room bar on Devonshire Street in Sheffield City Centre – it is the Waterbear music college and the venue will be rebranded as the WaterBear Green Room. In the daytime it will operate as a rehearsal space for students then open to the public in the evening as a live music bar. The venue had been run by Patrick Flynn for 23 years who is selling up in order to retire!
The annual Sheffield Folk Music Sessions festival takes place over the Easter weekend from 3 to 5 April spread across a number of pubs. At the time of going to press the programme and venues hadn’t been announced but usually involves places like the Dog & Partridge, Fagan’s, Perch, Shakespeares, Kelham Island Tavern, Harlequin, Gardeners Rest and Forest.
The Broadfield on Abbeydale Road are giving their outdoor area a bit of a fettle and we can apparently expect BBQ events in the garden over the summer!
The Queen Anne in Great Hucklow, which is up for sale as a result of the long standing licencees retiring, was due to close after 1 March but “due to popular demand” will be continuing to trade on reduced hours until it sells. The opening hours at time of going to press are Thursday to Saturday from 5pm and Sundays from midday. If you fancy a trip to visit this pub buses 65 (Sheffield to Buxton) and 173 (Castleton to Bakewell) pass the front door!
The Anchor Inn at Tideswell saw their tractor space in the car park make the news again with a local young farmer and his date turn up for a valentines meal there in his tractor!
Greene King brewery are looking for new tenants to take on the lease of the Woodroffe Arms in Hope.
The Cow Shed Cafe at Beltonville Farm in Millers Dale are hosting a beer & music festival on 23/24 May and 29/30 August. Advance tickets are advisable and camping is available.
29 March sees routes 218 (Sheffield to Bakewell) and 272 (Sheffield to Castleton) switch their Sunday service to the British Summer Time schedules.
23 May is when the 2026 season for the Peak Sightseer open top bus tours launches. Again there are two routes planned, the Red tour from Chatsworth to Bakewell and Blue tour from Chatsworth to Castleton. They will run daily until 19 September then Saturdays only to 10 October. Further details haven’t been announced as yet, keep an eye on stagecoachbus.com.
In Sheffield First bus have registered a number of timetable changes from 3 May. Details have not yet been announced at the time of going to press.
On Supertram, rail replacement works are taking place between Sheffield Station and Gleadless Townend (Blue and Purple routes) from 28 March to 12 April with replacement buses in operation. Buses replace trams on the Meadowhall/Parkgate line over the Mayday bank holiday weekend. There are also engineering works in the Rotherham area on some Saturday evenings – the 11, 18 and 25 April – with replacement buses from 1730hrs onwards. The Yellow and Blue route returns to the normal timetable with trams up to every 12 minutes from 13 April.
April is expected to see the opening of the new Tram Train station at Magna, just in time for the Rotherham Real Ale & Music festival there! The Tram Train service runs from Sheffield Cathedral to Parkgate via Attercliffe, Meadowhall South and Rotherham Central station. Look out for news on this online at supertram.com.
National Rail timetables change for the summer season on 17 May.
As we arrive into Spring, it is a time of year that is great to head out to pubs in Derbyshire and there are a number of regular bus routes from Sheffield to take you there:
65 to Buxton via Calver, Tideswell and Litton (Stagecoach)
218 to Bakewell via Baslow and Chatsworth (TM Travel)
257 to Bakewell via Bamford and Eyam (Andrew’s of Tideswell)
272 to Castleton via the Hope Valley (First bus and High Peak)
X17 to Wirksworth via Chesterfield and Matlock (Stagecoach)
Check out the features in the last few issues of Beer Matters for Peak District pubs along bus routes, if you don’t have a printed copy you can download PDFs from sheffield.camra.org.uk.
For general public transport information in our area online visit travelsouthyorkshire.com or travelderbyshire.co.uk. You can also track buses live on a map at bustimes.org, an independent website that will also show you timetables for individual stops.
