Author: Andy Cullen

Now I’m not personally that into sportsball of any flavour, however being Sheffield born and bred the local culture declares that it is mandatory to be the supporter of a local football team so I follow the family loyalty to Sheffield United. So obviously, one Saturday afternoon at the beginning of the new football season, I found myself persuaded to go and see Rotherham United play Bristol Rovers at the New York Stadium…

The reason for the trip to Rotherham was my friend Kevin wanting to embark on a new project of seeing matches at football grounds of interest he hadn’t been to before, combined with a few pubs before and after the game. He’s just moved to Rotherham hence being first on the list.

I caught the Tram Train from Sheffield’s Castle Square tram stop through to Rotherham Central station then walked up the hill to the Bluecoats Wetherspoons to meet him. On the way I noticed a venue that was declaring itself an officially designated away fans venue with families welcome, yet it appeared to be a lap dancing club. I’m not sure if perhaps Bristol Rovers fans have a reputation? Either way, the ‘Spoons was busy with fans of both the home and away teams all getting on well together, the Welbeck Abbey beer proving popular and on good form, whilst in contrast a Fuggle Bunny beer was served in poor condition and disappointed.

We also stopped off at the Cutlers Arms, a heritage pub fairly close to the ground, which as you’d expect was busy. This is one of two Chantry brewery pubs located close together and the handpumps were going like the clappers. This pub was making a special effort to promote a family atmosphere before the match with hot dogs and sweets available for the kids.

The match itself was enjoyable enough even if it wasn’t the best football you’ll see, ending with a goal less 0-0 score. There was no beer of interest in the stadium, where the choice beverage was Bovril to wash the Pukka pies down!

After the football we headed to Chantry’s other nearby pub, the New York Tavern for a couple of pints and a chat. The range of Chantry cask Beers included regulars such as Full Moon, Steelos, New York Pale and Iron & Steel Bitter plus a couple of specials and their stout.

With a walk up into the town centre we called in the High House which tends to have a lively atmosphere with football on TV in the afternoon and a DJ on at night but no real ale or craft beer available, as expected. We then headed on to the Three Cranes on the High Street, located in a historic building and has the feel of a micropub on the ground floor but has a large games room upstairs. This used to have a couple of real ales on handpump and the odd craft beer on tap alongside the more mainstream industrial beers, however they’ve now been swept away and the handpumps redundant, in favour of Beavertown, I assume the Heineken sales rep must have been and made them a good offer! The drink of choice here was a black cherry flavour cider from Seacider.

A fast food and non-booze stop was made at McDonalds before continuing to the Bridge Inn, located by the river and Central station. Downstairs this is a rock pub and owned by Old Mill brewery with a couple of their ales on the bar including Stirian Wolf. Upstairs is the Hive live music venue and they had an evening programme of several bands with free entry, we ventured up there in time to catch the end of the first to perform. The headline band was called the Death Wheelers and reassuringly there was a rather impressive collection of motorbikes parked outside the pub! Also outside we ran into former Rotherham beer festival stalwart and Wath Tap regular Glyn, on his way home from work!

To finish the evening we returned to the Cutlers, which hosts live music on a Saturday night across two stages. There was a Bon Jovi tribute band playing a ticketed gig on a big stage set up in a marquee behind the pub followed by “Rock of Ages” on a smaller stage inside the pub afterwards. By the time we got there Bon Jovi Forever were about three quarters of the way through their set and we were able to nip in to see them and we can confirm they were good!

First bus X3 (Doncaster to Sheffield) picks up across the road from the Cutlers so the 22:45 bus took me back to Sheffield Interchange and a final beer was enjoyed in town before ordering a taxi home!

The options for good beer in Rotherham town centre are sadly limited these days but aside from Wetherspoons the flag is still being flown for both real ale and live music by Chantry and Old Mill breweries and an enjoyable day was had!