Author: Andy Cullen

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.

Inn Brief

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The Blue Ball in Worrall has revealed the total amount of money raised for charity in 2023 by customers and staff was £11,599.34. Well done all!

The Blind Monkey in Walkley is hosting a makers market at the pub on Sunday 3 March.

You may remember back in April last year the Hallamshire Hotel Music Hall & Late Bar (previously Bloo88) on West Street in Sheffield City Centre was reopened on a temporary lease from Greene King brewery, just at weekends, by the same management as the Washington but has been closed since Christmas. Some good news here – the closure was for a refurbishment. This will see a dancefloor installed downstairs as part of a new decor described as something that “could have fallen right out of Stanley Kubrick’s head”. There has also been investment in a brand new sound system, restoration of the upstairs room into a gig space like the old days and improvements to the beer garden. We are told Improvements to the bar are also included including the introduction of craft beer as well as a new cocktail menu. The big relaunch is on Friday 2 February.

James O’Hara has been awarded an honoury degree by the University of Sheffield. As well as being one of the founders of Tramlines festival the businesses he is involved with include Public cocktail bar, Picture House Social on Abbeydale Road, Gatsby pub, Fagans and various cafes. He’s also part of the consortium that relaunched the Kelham Island Brewery brand, which is now brewed at Thornbridge.

The final day of Andrew Delamere running the Church House pub is Wednesday 31 January and the occasion is being market with a celebration featuring Atomic, an 80s party band. His final Saturday night there will see a band called the Resurrection play. Andrew has ended his lease with Heineken’s Star Pub Company, however the pub isn’t closing and you’ll recognise the new landlord!

Anglers Rest, Bamford

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The Anglers Rest is owned by a community interest company where all the shares are held by locals who were keen to maintain local community facilities when the pub company that previously owned it put the building on the market. The building as well as housing the pub and restaurant also hosts the village Post Office and cafe.

The pub part of the Anglers Rest building saw a relaunch on Sunday 7 January with a new management team employed, headed by John Parsons who is a chef that is very well regarded in the Hope Valley being local to the area and having cooked at Breedon Hope Works, Hathersage Social Club and The Sir William in Grindleford as well as working at the Ivy in London! He’s brought a menu of comfort food of the highest quality to the pub’s dining room with the Sunday roast being in high demand judging by how many are booked in for the first day!

Jo with the pump clip for the Torrside collaboration beer

Meanwhile, running the bar is Jo Doyle, who equally has experience and a lot of respect in Sheffield’s pub trade, she has moved on to her role at the Anglers from the Sheaf View in Heeley, a popular pub that regularly picks up CAMRA awards!

The bar at the Anglers Rest, featuring cask beers from Derbyshire and Sheffield on the opening weekend

You may have noticed at the Sheaf View’s beer festivals they are a fan of Torrside brewery, based in New Mills (Derbyshire) and Jo seems to be planning on sharing her love with the drinkers of Bamford having already taken a trip over to New Mills for a collaborative brew day to help produce a new house beer for the Anglers!

If you fancy a trip to the Anglers, bus 257 from Sheffield to Bakewell runs past the pub’s front door, alternatively it is about a mile from Bamford railway station which is also served by buses 271 and 272, this is walkable in about 15 minutes (note it is uphill though!)

Jo and John
the tasting menu offered to guests booked in to dine at the preview night

Royal Hotel, Dungworth

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The owners of the Royal Hotel in Dungworth have announced they are selling up and retiring, with a worry that this may become another lost pub. This pub, which also offers bed & breakfast accommodation, was built in 1813 and has been run by David Lambert and Dave & Joanne Jubb for the last 25 years. As well as real ale, the pub serves bar meals and has a reputation for their home made pies, it is also famous for being one of the North Sheffield pubs that take part in the traditional Christmas Carol events as well as hosting a folk club. It also offers spectacular views over the Loxley Valley.

The owners are very much overdue a well earned retirement but have been quite frank about the situation the pub may find itself in – the location is in a small rural village where people don’t really go the local pub any more and the regular business travellers that stayed in the accommodation have disappeared since Covid as well as there being increased competition from new build chain hotels in the City Centre. They point out that as the pub comes with a separate outbuilding in an attractive location the combined site will be worth a lot of money to someone wanting to convert it all to residential use. On the other hand a bunch of regulars are looking at setting up a community interest company to buy it as a going concern (a challenging about of money to raise though, the asking price is over £1m!) and of course it could still be bought by a private concern wanting to keep it going as a pub and hotel.

Fingers crossed someone buys it to run as a pub and B&B and injects the appropriate energy, enthusiasm and investment to reinvigorate it and make it a huge success, opening another positive chapter in the pub’s story, rather than ending over 200 years of history.

The last day of trading under the current management is 1 March 2024.

Thornbridge Brewery

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Thornbridge are this year again running a year of beer programme with a different cask beer each month appearing as a guest in pubs partnering in the scheme (and probably a few other places too!).

The 2024 brew schedule kicks off with a cask version of Green Mountain, the hazy session IPA that is a regular on keg followed in February by Coco Cocoa, a coconut edition of their regular chocolate porter.

In March is a mild called Grand Purposes, to be brewed as part of the International Women’s collaboration day then in April is Hirundo, a 4.5% pale ale. In May the release is “Lost in the Forest” a Slovenian hopped pale ale, June sees the return of Wye cucumber pale ale with a red rye IPA in July and a tropical pale ale in August.

Into the autumn and the flavours start to change with the seasons – in September Lucaria ice cream porter puts in an appearance, this type a Biscoff flavoured version and for Halloween in October of course pumpkin is involved! November has a Chai Latte flavoured stout then for Christmas in December it’s a gingerbread pale ale.

Thornbridge have also been involved with the brewing of a couple of Titanic brewery collaborations. The away fixture (brewed at Titanic in Stoke) was an extra special bitter called Carpathia whilst the home fixture (brewed at Thornbridge in Bakewell) is an IPA called Britannic, brewed using Galaxy and Simcoe hops. Both beers are 5.3% ABV.

Brewery Bits

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Bradfield Brewery now have two Gluten Free beers in their bottled range, available from their on site shop. The bottled versions of Farmers Blonde and Farmers Brown Cow are now suitable for those needing a Gluten Free option!

Meanwhile on cask the first half of 2024 will see a similar calendar of monthly seasonal specials from Bradfield as last year with a rotation of Light Ale (January), Irish Dexter (February), Plum Bitter (March), CruciBull Ale (April), Cherry Beer (May), WimBullDon (June) and Elderflower Ale (July).

Grizzly Grains released another beer just before Christmas, meaning they had 3 ales plus mead out in the pubs over the holiday season. The latest beer was Lustre, a citra hopped golden ale.

Tapped Brew Co, based at the Sheffield Tap bar, celebrated their 1000th brew with “Grand”, a 5.9% ABV classic IPA with a hop bill that delivers some pronounced bitterness.

A recent brew from Triple Point has been Cappadocia, a 4.6% pale ale. Soft and fruity, with peach, tangerine, and pineapple flavours. Using El Dorado, Cashmere, and Wolf hops. This beer kicks off a new series of bucket list inspired beers, with this one based on a hot air balloon ride in sunny Cappadocia, Turkey, apparently!

Award winning ales

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Back in October at the opening night of our Steel City Beer & Cider Festival we judged a cask beer from most of the breweries in the Sheffield & District CAMRA branch area in our Champion Beer of Sheffield competition. We mentioned the winners briefly in our festival review last issue, but here is a closer look at them!

BRONZE WINNER – Little Critters, Great Danish

This is a 7.4% ABV pecan and maple stout that brings you chocolatey richness, bolstered by a subtle hint of pecan and finished with sweet maple. It is brewed with English malt grains, pecan extract (nut allergy free) and maple syrup.

SILVER WINNER – Tapped, Brook

A porter called Brook (Porter Brook – the Sheffield river, get it? Groan!)

This London Porter is brewed with a generous mix of brown malt and chocolate malt to give depth in flavour and colour, dark brown with ruby hints when held to light. The mix of the dark malts give aromas of chocolate, caramel and subtle notes of coffee which develop in the flavour. Hopped with two UK hops, Phoenix and Goldings.

GOLD WINNER, CHAMPION BEER OF SHEFFIELD – Heist, The Bad Part of Gnome Town

A 4.6% ABV hazy session IPA. It is juicy and refreshing and the aroma is an immediate explosion of citrus and tropical fruits thanks to the generous use of Citra hops. Balance by subtle pine and earthy undertones from the Simcoe hops. As well as the usual keg and can this beer saw a limited quantity go into cask for the beer festival with Heist really proving they can also do that well!

Stocking fillers!

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One of the features of our Steel City Beer & Cider festival is branded glasses to drink from and take home as a souvenir. This year we had pint glasses in partnership with Hendersons Relish and half pint glasses in partnership with Bradfield Brewery. If you didn’t make it to the festival and still want to get hold of a glass – either for yourself or maybe as a Christmas present for someone you know – then good news – we have some left and our friends at Beer Central are selling them for just £3 each. You can also bundle them up with beer, cider or mead to create a gift pack.

Beer Central is located in Sheffield City Centre in the Moor Market building.

We also still have a stock of the Sheffield Real Heritage Pub book which is available through various retailers, these being Beer Central, Draughtsman (Doncaster railway station), Famous Sheffield Shop, Fat Cat, Kelham Island Books + Music, Kelham Island Museum, Hop Hideout, Makers Store (Meadowhall), Millennium Gallery, Next Chapter Books, Old Shoe, Brewery of St Mars of the Desert and Rhyme & Reason.

CAMRA books also publishes a range of titles including the well known Good Beer Guide which can be ordered along with other merchandise online from the CAMRA shop.

Vernon Kay’s Derbyshire Ultra Marathon

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Vernon Kay, off of BBC Radio 2, has been running 115 miles across Derbyshire to raise funds for the Children in Need charity appeal, followed by an entourage that includes Pudsey Bear. As he passed through Bakewell he was presented with a Bakewell Pudding by the Rutland Arms, he also visited the Queen Anne in Hucklow then in the village of Hope the party was welcomed to the Old Hall Hotel by landlord Rick for an overnight stay and full Derbyshire breakfast to set them up for another big day which saw Vernon run past the Rambler Inn at Edale!

Vernon Kay outside the Old Hall Hotel
Pudsey Bear outside the Old Hall Hotel’s tea room
Vernon Kay at the Queen Anne in Great Hucklow

Pub of the Month nominations

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Here are the pubs currently on the voting form, which can be found online at sheffield.camra.org.uk.

RAILWAY, WADSLEY BRIDGE

A classic old multi-roomed pub that came into new ownership post Covid and is slowly being refurbished inside and out, other changes already implemented is opening throughout the week, an increase in the choice of cask ales and handpump and the addition of craft beer to the keg taps. The pub also features retro arcade games and pinball, pool tables, classic juke box, stage for live music and sports on TV in some rooms. It also has an outdoor drinking area at rear.

Getting there: Bus 7, 8, 86 and 97 pass the front door.

CRAFTWORKS, MOSBOROUGH

Two shop units converted into a bar with some great real ales and other craft beers plus of course wines and spirits too. It opens all day and also serves decent coffee and a selection of cakes. Some evenings has entertainment such as a pub quiz or singer.

Getting there: buses 50, 50a, 53 and 55 pass the front door.

OXBOW, WOODHOUSE MILL

This little micropub is what the Americans might term a “neighbourhood bar”, ie a traditional community local in miniature with friendly regulars. Since opening the venue has extended a little bit with the construction of a sheltered seating area outside between the shop front and pavement. The bar features good quality craft beers on both cask and keg. Note card payment only.

Getting there: bus 52 stops outside or bus X5 stops just around the corner on the main road.

RUTLAND ARMS, CITY CENTRE

One of the classic boozers of the City Centre, the heritage tiled exterior sitting alongside more modern artwork on the beer garden wall giving you a clue what to expect inside – a fairly traditional interior but with lots of examples of the modestly punk attitude and humour of the staff and customers covering the walls whilst on the bar traditional real ales sit next to a varied range of modern craft beers. The food menu offers drinkers ballast like chip butties alongside specials that a fancy bistro might be proud of.

Getting there: buses 10, 10a, 32, 56, 57, 57a, 65, 95, 95a, 218, 271 and 272 stop outside; there are also many other buses, trains and trams a short walk away.

CROW INN, WEST BAR

The Crow was opened in its current guise in 2019 after a full refit, under previous ownership it had been operating as a budget hotel. It continues to offer rooms upstairs which have been refurbished to a modern and comfortable standard whilst on the ground floor it has been restored as a pub with a comfortable lounge area and a bar serving a selection of craft beers on cask and keg by friendly and knowledgeable staff, the spirits list is also rather credible too! Snacks available include pork pies and sausage rolls.

Getting there: bus 31 stops outside or buses 57, 57a, 81, 82 and 86 stop a few minutes walk away on Gibraltar Street.

CAMRA MEMBERS – VOTE NOW!

Peak District Tourism Awards

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The tourist board for the Peak District and Derbyshire have announced the shortlist for their annual awards, due to be presented at a ceremony held at the Museum of Making on 7 March.

A number of venues that serve good beer on or near our patch have made the shortlist:

  • Hotel of the Year and Taste of the Peak District – Maynard in Grindleford
  • Pub of the Year – The Blind Bull in Little Hucklow, The George in Hathersage and the Prince of Wales in Baslow
  • Tourism Young Achiever – Steph Taylor of Atlantik Inns (who runs the Anchor near Tideswell) and Emma West of Longbow Bars & Restaurants (the company that runs the Maynard in Grindleford, George in Hathersage and soon the Ashford Arms).
  • Unsung Hero – Adrian Gagea of Longbow Bars & Restaurants.

Good luck to all the above!