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.
Your editor recently spent a day volunteering behind the bar at the brand new Swinton (near Rotherham) beer festival, held at St Margaret’s Anglo-Catholic church to help them raise funds for a new community hall. The beer festival was run alongside the annual town fair which is held in a field attached to the church with a variety of stalls along with a kiddies ride, ice cream van and a couple of hot food traders.
Inside the church the ladies who run the regular coffee morning there were assembled serving coffee, pop and crisps from the kitchen area as well as manning a stall selling home made cakes.
At the front of the church there was an all day live entertainment programme with a number of different singers, dancers and bands of different genres helping to maintain a great atmosphere!
Down one side of the church was a huge bar with lots of real ales on handpump, this was flanked at one end by a bar serving wine and spirits and the other end by a bar serving craft beer and lager on keg via a tap wall, borrowed from Maison du Biere of Elsecar.
The cask range was all sourced from Yorkshire and included beer from Woodlands brewery of Penistone which isn’t often seen out and about, also a couple of rare cask ales from Emmanuales of Sheffield. Nailmaker brewery had supplied a festival special – “Ale Mary” which was a regular pale ale infused with Juniper berries, this was one of the first to sell out!
The beer festival was kept busy by a wonderful mix of people – families popping in for refreshment after visiting the fair, priests and staff from this and other nearby churches relaxing with a beer knowing they were supporting the fundraiser and beery folk who had made the effort to visit having seen the beer list!
The venue was easy enough to get to – 20 minutes on the local train from Sheffield to Swinton station from where you can either walk or do as I did jump on a bus for the short ride up to the church! On the way back I got a bus from outside the church to Rotherham Interchange and connected with the Tram Train to Sheffield Cathedral, from where I walked up to the Dog & Partridge for a pint and a chat to another customer about how the England match had gone whilst I’d been busy chucking beer at people (we won on penalties).
All in all, a great little do and worth a visit next year should it happen again!
Check out our beer festival listings for other upcoming events in or near Sheffield
On the evening of Wednesday 3 July CAMRA members and regulars joined Josh, Louise and the team at the Kelham Island Tavern to celebrate again being judged Sheffield & District Pub of the Year. The certificate was presented, beer was drunk, cheese & biscuits and pork pie was enjoyed! Well done to all involved and thanks for an enjoyable evening!
Paul Manning with the management and staff of the Kelham Island Tavern at their Pub of the Year presentation
During July bus operators have been holding a consultation on proposed changes to bus timetables and routes from 1 September to reflect demand building back up differently post covid.
Bus route 8 from Ecclesfield to Birley will be split with some journeys running to Dyke Vale Road instead of Birley Lane tram stop, replacing route 41 which will be withdrawn. The 8/8a from Crystal Peaks is withdrawn and replaced by new local minibus services M44/M45.
The 1a and 11 Herdings to Chapeltown will be withdrawn with the 47/48 Herdings-Shiregreen making a comeback with changes to the 75 replacing the 1a to Chapeltown.
The 95/95a is also to be withdrawn with the Meadowhall end of the route replaced by changes to the 75 whilst Walkley will be served by new routes 54/55/55a which will run from Walkley to Handsworth via Sheffield Parkway then continuing to either Rotherham via Treeton (replacing withdrawn route 73) or to Crystal Peaks via either Aston or Woodhouse.
Greystones gets a better service with route 82 diverted that way with the 6 changed to run more directly on Ecclesall Road instead of via Greystones.
On route 52 buses will be extended beyond Crookes to Hillsborough all day whilst on the 52a there will be an improved Loxley/Wisewood service including the introduction of a Sunday service.
There are changes to the 88 Ecclesfield to Bents Green with increased frequencies and a different route in the Firth Park area.
Stocksbridge and Worrall see some improvement too with the 57a running later into the evening.
The 41, 42, X54 and X74 are both withdrawn and replaced by a new network of routes numbered 70/70a/71/71a.
South Pennine Community Transport will be running a series of one day a week buses from Holmfirth – Monday to Meadowhall, Wednesday to Castleton and Thursday to Hillsborough
Meanwhile Supertram has a programme of rail replacement works over the summer holidays as follows:
20 July to 2 August: Blue route closed between Gleadless Townend and Halfway with trams running to Herdings Park instead of Halfway. Replacement buses to connect Gleadless to Halfway.
3 August to 11 August: Blue and Purple route closed between Sheffield Station and Herdings Park. The Blue route to operate in two parts with replacement buses running Sheffield City Centre to Gleadless to connect.
12 August to 1 September: Yellow route closed between Hillsborough and Middlewood with trams running to Malin Bridge instead of Middlewood.
There is also expected to be some disruption to Tram Train services to Rotherham at weekends from September onwards as work begins to build a new station at Magna, which the joint SYMCA/Network Rail project team are aiming to have ready for the summer 2025 National Rail timetable commencing next May.
Meanwhile on the Derbyshire buses there is some disruption caused by long term roadworks affecting bus 272 in Bradwell and bus 65 in Grindleford until September, altered timetables at derbysbus.info.
Fuggle Bunny Brew House in Halfway (a short walk from the tram terminus or bus 120k) holds a tap session every Friday when they open the bar in the brewery with a range of their beers to sit down and enjoy at source.
From July the “Fuggle Friday” events will also have a food trader on site serving from 4pm to 8pm (the bar continues to be open until 11pm).
The food changes each week with a number of traders on rotation. On the roster from July to September are The Tacho Trailer, Lush N Loaded, Spud Buddies (Greek), Poblano (Mexican) and Bear Grills (gourmet burgers).
What used to be known as beer Twitter (do we refer to it as beer X now?) has often loved a good argument and whilst in my opinion X has become something of a negative cess pit good only for damaging your mental health, some good conversation does come along now and again!
This one is to be fair one beery people have had on a regular basis for as long as I’ve volunteered in CAMRA (about 25 years now probably) and the same points keep getting made. However the beer scene has actually changed in those years and I don’t think the cask ale scene is in any better or worse health, it is just different, in a positive way I’d argue!
The metrics that usually come into the discussion is the variety of beers on the bar, the proportion of national brands versus smaller local/regional brewers and interest from younger drinkers or diversity of drinkers choosing cask ale.
The absolute worse thing for putting drinkers off cask ale are quality issues – beer that has gone off and turned to vinegar will never give a good impression and if someone trying it for the first time has that experience and assumes that’s what it is normally like probably won’t give it a second chance. My personal experience is not having many such bad experiences in recent years and some of that ones I have had has been in a certain bar I won’t name that is simply making the mistake of putting a cask range on that is too big to turnover fast enough to maintain quality. I would suggest another common theme of pubs with poor quality beer are those owned by a chain where the manager has to sell specific national brands that aren’t popular with their customers. In contrast I’ve seen some excellent examples in our area of bars with only one handpump which has a popular local brand such as Abbeydale Moonshine or Bradfield Farmers Blonde at a reasonable price and it sells like mad to a broad mix of drinkers!
Back in my younger drinking days most fun places around town didn’t sell any beer worth drinking – you either went to a fun bar or a good beer pub, one or the other, there was no crossover. In the peak of the craft beer boom the number of venues with cask ale and/or good craft beer on keg increased, however that has started to move back the other way with faux craft brands owned by the likes of Heineken, AB Inbev, Molson Coors and Greene King muscling local beers off the bar. We still have a number of fun late night venues with cask to choose from such as the Washington and the Bessemer plus of course some more traditional places like Shakespeares Ale & Cider House that open fairly late. I’d suggest we still have an amazing choice of cask ale venues to choose from. The range of beers may have shrunk a little in some places to maintain quality but I think this reflects the economic climate and people going out drinking less, rather than cask ale being less popular.
So finally – are young people drinking cask ale? Well, the University of Sheffield real ale society is still going strong and their student union continues to run a very successful annual beer festival whilst in the pubs and bars they are like any other drinker – have the right ales on the bar in good condition and properly promoted – they will drink it.
Sheaf View at Heeley received the award for South Sheffield area Pub of the YearItchy Pig in Broomhill received the award for West Sheffield area Pub of the YearThe Bath Hotel received our award for Sheffield City Centre Pub of the Year
Still to be presented:
North Sheffield area pub of the year – Blake Hotel, Walkley
East Sheffield area pub of the year – Chantry Inn, Handsworth
Kelham Island & Neepsend area pub of the year – Kelham Island Tavern
Chantry Brewery launched a couple of new beers for June at their brewery tap bar – Wizard’s Spell and The Beer Inspector. Both are 4% pale ales.
June saw Little Critters release a new beer in their pets range with Luna’s Peach Pale Ale, a refreshing 4.4% ABV beer with fruit juice combining with US hops.
The special limited edition bottled beer released by Bradfield Brewery we previously mentioned was Highland Pale Ale, an 8.1% ABV beer that was aged for 3 months in Scottish oak whisky barrels.
Thornbridge have released the first beer brewed using their newly acquired Union fermenting system (the old historical Burton Unions decommissioned by Marstons brewery in Burton on Trent). Look out for Thornbridge Union Jaipur on a bar near you!
Eyam brewery released a special in time for the Euros – Surely it’s coming home this time (pale ale, 4.2% ABV)!
Collyfobble brewery have embarked on a series of quarterly seasonal specials. The summer special is a pale ale brewed with Amarillo hops to a sessionable strength of 3.6% ABV.
On the evening of Tuesday 14 May a group of CAMRA members joined regulars at the Bath Hotel celebrating the pub winning our City Centre Pub of the Year award. Paul Crofts (our branch treasurer and beer festival organiser) presented the pub’s owner Brian Johnson with the certificate and all present enjoyed some excellent ales, pork pies and samosas!
Brian and team at the Bath Hotel presented with their City Centre Pub of the Year certificate by Sheffield CAMRA’s Paul Crofts
The full list of our Pub and Club of the Year winners:
The May Day bank holiday weekend not only saw extended hours and live music at the Drone Valley Brewery tap but a new beer release – Vienna Dark Mild.
Eyam Brewery are now supplying pubs and bottle shops further afield via Sellar. Meanwhile back at the brewery they have an open day coming up on 15 June featuring beer, pizza and music. Visitors are encouraged to buy tickets in advance (just £2.50 including first pint!), however you can just turn up on the day subject to capacity. The event runs from midday until 6pm.
Bradfield Brewery continue with their usual calendar of season ales, the cherry beer went down well in May and it is time to move on in June to Farmers Wim-Bull-Don (yes, tennis themed!) which is a pale coloured fruity ale with a burst of summer fruit flavours. July will see their Elderflower Ale make a comeback, brewed with blooms freshly picked from the farmers fields! Additionally the brewery have been putting teasers out on social media about a new limited edition special bottled beer to be launched in their brewery shop on 24 May.
Intrepid Brewery at Brough (between Bamford/Hope and Bradwell) have open day events planned for 10 August and 5 October. On these days they open a pop up bar in the brewery and have seating outside with Sunshine Pizza Oven trading outside and a neighbouring business providing the tunes! There is a bus stop at the end of the drive – buses on route 272 (Sheffield-Castleton) that serve Bradwell go there along with buses on route 173 (Castleton-Bakewell).
Stancill Brewery had two suitable beers out for the Mild in May campaign with “India” (a 4% ABV ruby coloured mild) and “Tom’s Mild” (a 3.4% dark mild which was their second ever brew after Barnsley Bitter) both making a comeback!
One Valley Festival sees numerous venues across the Dronfield area including pubs, clubs and brewery tap rooms all put on special events involving beer, cider, street food and music all on the same day. The 2024 event takes place on Saturday 8 June.
Here is a quick guide to the venues expected to take part. Keep an eye on their Facebook page for the latest updates.
Most of the venues are close to the railway station and can be walked between; All the venues are served by one of the four local Stagecoach bus services – 15, 16, 43 and 44 – all charge just £2 per ride or a Silver DayRider pass is available offering unlimited travel on them all (£6.20 adult or £16 for a group of 5, buy from the driver or on the Stagecoach app).
Until 5pm there is also the Travel Derbyshire On Demand minibus that can be booked on their app for any journey in North East Derbyshire at a cost of £4 per ride, subject to availability.
CORE ONE VALLEY FESTIVAL VENUES
Manor House Hotel, High Street, Dronfield (get there by bus 15 or 16): As normal their coffee shop will be open serving cooked breakfasts from 8am and the hotel bar will open at 10am, however festivities kick off outdoors at the rear of the building from noon with two outside bars – one of them serving Abbeydale cask beers. Pellizco will be there slinging Mexican food and Britpop Resurrection will be performing live at 5pm and 6pm, followed by DJ Brad Gee playing an outdoor set from 7:30pm. https://www.facebook.com/manorhousehotel.co.uk
Blue Stoops, High Street, Dronfield (get there by bus 15, 16 or 43): Features a large outdoor drinking area and outside bars will be in place for the festival. Inside the normal bar and restaurant will be operating. https://www.facebook.com/thebluestoopsdronfield
Victoria, Stubley Lane, Dronfield (get there by bus 15, 16 or 43): Old Skool street corner local boozer with a small outdoor drinking area.
Green Dragon, Church Street, Dronfield (walkable from Dronfield station and bus 44): The car park will be closed off to make a bigger outdoor area with an outside bar open from midday, Smiths fish & chip van and music – DJ Higgz 2pm to 4pm, Vocalist Hayley-Lou 4pm to 6pm and DJ Higgz from 6:30pm until late. https://www.facebook.com/GreenDragonDronfield
Dronfield Arms, Chesterfield Road, Dronfield (walkable from Dronfield station, bus 44 stops close by): This pub is the home to Temper Brewing and a branch of Pizza Pi, for the festival the car park is closed off for a party with outside bar and music stage with live acts during the afternoon from 1pm then a DJ taking over at 6pm to keep things swinging as the sun sets. (stage line up: 1pm Magenta Apricot, 2pm Kickback, 3pm Issac, 4pm Dronny Bottom Buskers, 5pm Chris Paul, 6pm to midnight DJ Phil). https://www.facebook.com/dronfieldarms
Underdog, Chesterfield Road, Dronfield (walkable from Dronfield station, bus 44 stops close by): A barely noticable passageway runs down the side of the building to a rear courtyard area where for the festival an outside bar will be serving a range of craft beer, flavoured ciders and alcoholic slushies. Also present will be Butlers Family Bakers’ selling hot pork sandwiches. https://www.facebook.com/TheUnderdogDronfield
White Swan, Chesterfield Road, Dronfield (walkable from Dronfield station, bus 44 stops close by): If the weather is good their patio area proves popular and for the festival they have an outside bottle bar. Also featured is a pizza van and Bethany Grace will be singing between 1pm and 3pm. https://www.facebook.com/whiteswandronfield2023
Pioneer Club, Stonelow Road, Dronfield (get there on bus 15 or 44): Expect a full range of drinks on the club bar inside, live entertainment, DJ and food stalls. It will be a family friendly venue too with a bouncy castle, childrens entertainer and other kids activities. https://www.facebook.com/PioneerClubS18
Miners Arms, Carr Lane, Dronfield Woodhouse (bus 16 stops outside or bus 43 is a short walk away): This is a suburban community local with a decent beer garden. On festival day real ale on the pub bar will be joined by a cider shack outside, there will be live music at 1pm and 8pm with a DJ providing the music inbetween, returning later on in the evening to host a throwback disco once the band has finished. BBQ food will be served from midday to 6pm and there will be a dessert van from 4pm to 7pm. In the daytime there will be a bouncy castle for the kids. https://www.facebook.com/theminersarmsdronfieldwoodhouse
Jolly Farmer, Pentland Road, Dronfield Woodhouse (get there on bus 43): A suburban community pub that serves food. Festival day routine sees them open early serving cooked breakfasts (advance booking essential!) then into the afternoon their outdoor area hosts a pop up bar, BBQ and live entertainment. https://www.facebook.com/jollyfarmerdronfield
ONE VALLEY EXTRA VENUES
Beer Stop, Callywhite Lane, Dronfield (walkable from Dronfield station or bus 44 stops right outside): A small craft beer shop that offers on site drinking with a patio area at the front – expect as usual a choice of beers in keg, can and bottle www.facebook.com/BeerStopDronfield
Drone Valley Brewery, Unstone Industrial Complex, Main Road, Unstone (bus 43 and 44 stop at the end of the drive): For the festival their brewery tap operation cranks it up a gear or two – bigger bar in the brewery showcasing their range of cask ales plus lager and cider, separate outside cocktail bar and a food stall provided by Gow’s Kitchen of Coal Aston. There will be live music throughout the afternoon: Simon Lancaster at midday, Tony Bovill at 12:45pm, Ed Hulse at 1:30pm, Dog & The Enigmas at 2:15pm, Shambles Duo at 3pm, Charlotte Hall at 4pm and Cobalt Tales at 5pm. https://www.facebook.com/dronevalleybrewery
Miners Arms, Hundall Lane, Hundall (get there on bus 15): Always a popular destination on festival day is this rural pub up in the hills! On the day the beer garden gains an outside bar with a range of ales, lagers and ciders along with a food stall and outdoor live music stage. Music kicks off from 2pm with Steve Birks and Hallowed Travellers. https://www.facebook.com/minershundall
LIVE ENTERTAINMENT AND DJ SCHEDULE
Here is a summary of what all the venues have announced so far. Please check for any changes directly with the venues before making any special journeys!
12:00 – Drone Valley Brewery: Simon Lancaster
12:00 – Pioneer Club: DJ John
12:45 – Drone Valley Brewery: Tony Bovill
13:00 – Dronfield Arms: Magenta Apricot
13:00 – Jolly Farmer: Ding & John – live singing and DJ sets throughout the afternoon
18:00 – Pioneer Club: Alan Squires (guitar & vocals)
18:30 – Green Dragon: DJ Higgz
19:30 – Manor House: DJ Brad Gee (until closing time)
20:00 – Miners Arms (Dronfield Woodhouse): Brude (classic rock band)
BUS STOPS / RAIL STATION
Use these links to view the next buses scheduled from the nearest stop to each venue, there are separate links for each side of the road. Click on the time of the bus and it will show you where the bus is and if it is on time or click on the map link so you can see on a map where the bus stop is and where the buses are.
