Craftworks

Craftworks is a bar on Mosborough High Street that describes itself as a micropub. It is probably a little bigger and more modern than what many think of as a micropub in reality, however it fulfils its role nicely as a small community local with a broad appeal.

It opened in 2019, and hadn’t been trading long when the first lockdown kicked in. It was still finding its feet when it was able to reopen with restrictions such as table service.

Now with restrictions all but a memory, Craftworks does still offer the facility for groups to make reservations, however it is now operating like a normal pub where you can walk in and order a pint from the friendly bar staff!

The bar has four handpumps dispensing Abbeydale Deception NZ pale ale (rebadged as the their house ale), along with three regularly changing guests. In addition a number of craft beers on keg are available plus other beers, wines and spirits. You can also buy craft beer in cans to take home, usually with a discount available.

Craftworks has recently established a programme of entertainment including a quiz night and live music.

The newest development has been the addition of an espresso coffee machine, with the bar now opening from 9am serving coffee and cake – plus they are licenced to serve alcohol in the morning if you prefer beer with your cake. I’m told the record so far for the earliest pint served is 9:35am.

If you are looking to take a bus trip to Mosborough then buses 50, 50a and 53 pass the front door, while a short walk away on Station Road are buses 30a, 55 and 80a.

Fagan’s presentation

Tom & Barbara Boulding took over as licensees at Fagan’s pub back in 1985, and by the time they retire next year will have been running this classic unspoilt pub for 38 years, breaking the record of previous landlord Joe Fagan! You can read more about this here.

Our pub heritage champion, Dave Pickersgill, presented Tom & Barbara with a certificate recognising their outstanding contribution to Sheffield’s pub scene, on an evening that also included a shortened branch meeting and their regular folk music session.

Tom & Barbara Boulding receive the award from Dave Pickersgill. Photo: John Beardshaw

Unexpectedly, Tom then returned the favour and presented Dave with a framed image of Grains Court and Brewhouse from 1860 – which became Tetley’s Brewery in Leeds. Fagan’s used to be a Tetley’s owned pub.

Brewery Bits

Grizzly Grains Brewery have hosted a collaboration with Shakespeares, brewing a Belgian style pale ale using Pilgrim and Phoenix hops supplied by Brookhouse Hops.

Intrepid have made another tweak to their ever evolving ITE small IPA (3.9% ABV). The latest batch sees a bit more oats added to the mash and a return to a Kveik yeast. It’s been hopped with a big mix of hops -Cascade & Mandarina are used late in the kettle for a subtle bitterness and citrus platform to work with the yeast. It’s then double dry hopped with Ekuanot and Azacca with a bit less of Chinook & Mosaic added bringing that drippy fruit punch flavour with some dank citrus.

Fuggle Bunny Brew House celebrated the first anniversary of the new ownership on 4 November and to celebrate their regular Friday tap session had the addition of live music and “Dough Box” pizza trailer trading outside. Their newest beer, Chapter 10 – Stomper, is a dry hopped IPA and was available at our Steel City Beer & Cider Festival. Also out recently was their special Halloween beer, Deadly Nightshade, a 5% AVB amber ale.

Triple Point Brewery have released “Canyon”, a 4.8% ABV American Red Ale on cask. On the hop bill it features a new berry inspired Cryo hop blend released by Yakima Chief along with a couple of American classics – Cascade and Centennial.

Beery outings by tram

The Supertram network, currently operated by Stagecoach Supertram, provides three tram routes across the city of Sheffield along with a Tram-Train service between Sheffield and Rotherham, with all four routes operating all day every day. All day unlimited travel passes are available if you want to hop on and off doing a tram based pub crawl, alternatively thanks to funding from the South Yorkshire Mayor single journeys currently (until 31 March 2023) cost a very reasonable £2 a ride regardless of how far you are travelling. Tickets are available to buy on board from the conductor or alternatively unlimited travel passes are available slightly cheaper on the Stagecoach app.

FUGGLE BUNNY BREWHOUSE

Fuggle Bunny Brew House brew a range of real ales and host tap sessions at the brewery every Friday where an on site bar opens for you to sit inside and enjoy their beers. The brewery is about a 10 minute walk from Halfway tram terminus, on the Blue route. Trams operate every 12 minutes in the daytime and every 30 minutes in the evening, last trams back from Halfway are 23:17 on the full route to Malin Bridge via the City Centre or 00:17 to Sheffield Station. If you wish to visit some pubs in the area it is walkable to the Guzzle Micropub in Killamarsh or you can jump off the tram at Beighton or Crystal Peaks where there are various pubs to try such as the Scarsdale Hundred, Gypsy Queen and the Milestone.

CHANTRY BREWERY

Chantry brew a range of real ales and lagers in their brewery based in Parkgate, Rotherham, a short walk from the Tram-Train terminus. They have constructed a tap room bar on a mezzanine level and also adapted part of the brewery building into a small live music venue and there are regular gigs (some requiring tickets) most weekends. The bar is open on Fridays from 5pm and Saturdays from 4pm. Check their social media for whether it is a public night or gig night before going. The Tram-Train service runs roughly every 30 minutes with the last departure back to Sheffield at 23:59. There is also the option of jumping off at Rotherham Central en-route to visit some town centre pubs (such as the Bridge, Cutlers Arms, New York Tavern, Three Cranes Inn and Bluecoat) alternatively the Little Haven micropub is a short walk from the brewery.

Other beery stop offs along the Tram Train (and Yellow) route includes the Wentworth pub located across the road from the Arena and Valley Centertainment along with the Brewery of St Mars of the Desert in Attercliffe.

This trip can also be extended by using the 22X bus which runs between Rotherham and Barnsley via Parkgate and Wath upon Dearne, offering the opportunity to visit the Wath Tap micropub, which has won numerous awards from Rotherham CAMRA.

KELHAM ISLAND / NEEPSEND

This district of Sheffield, which has benefited from some significant gentrification in recent years, was named by Time Out magazine in their list of the top 50 coolest neighbourhoods in the world! Shalesmoor tram stop provides the gateway to the area with a frequent service provided by the Blue and Yellow routes (about every 6 minutes in the daytime and every 15 minutes in the evening, up to midnight).

When you alight at Shalesmoor, you are next to the Wellington pub, which acts as the tap for Neepsend Brewery or across the roundabout in the Krynkl shipping container development is the Cider Hole, a specialist bar that makes its own cider as well as offering tutored tasting flights of cider from both the UK and overseas. There is also an awesome circuit of real ale pubs including the Kelham Island Tavern, Fat Cat, Shakespeares Ale & Cider House, West Bar Tap, Crow Inn, Riverside, Harlequin, Alder and Gardeners Rest as well as various other bars.

HILLSBOROUGH AREA

Hillsborough tram stop is at the heart of this suburb, two real ale outlets here are the Rawson Spring Wetherspoons and the Hillsborough Tap. However get off the tram a stop early at Bamforth Street and you can visit the New Barrack Tavern or stay on the Yellow route tram an extra stop to Hillsborough Park where there is a number of different micropubs including Pangolin, a craft beer specialist. Trams run regularly until about midnight.

SHEFFIELD CITY CENTRE

Sheffield Tap, also home to Tapped Brew Co, is located at the railway station so easily accessed by the Sheffield Station tram stop. Walkable from the Fitzalan Square tram stop is the Old Queens Head and the Dorothy Pax, Castle Square tram stop is handy for the Bankers Draft Wetherspoon, the Dove & Rainbow and Cavell’s Cafe Bar. Cathedral tram stop is close to the Church House. City Hall tram stop is handy for the likes of the Dog & Partridge, Grapes, Fagan’s, Benjamin Huntsman, Sheffield Water Works Company and various bars along Division Street. West Street tram stop is near the Red Deer, Beehive, Bath Hotel and Washington. University of Sheffield tram stop is a short walk from the University Arms.

Inn Brief

The Railway at Wadsley Bridge is to have a wood fired pizza ovens and music on 7 inch vinyls for New Years Eve.

The Rutland Arms is hosting their annual Christmas lights switch on party along with a “Funky Fluids” tap takeover on Thursday 8 December.

Walkley Beer Company are celebrating their 8th birthday on Saturday 3 December with some banging beers on tap and a bit of a buffet!

Crow Inn are hosting a Turning Point tap takeover on Friday 2 December. On cask will be three different imperial stouts while the keg taps will see four beers, a mixture of IPAs and sours.

The Railway Hotel at Wadsley Bridge has been running a “Cask Wednesday” promotion with 50p off the cask ales on that day of the week, except for Sheffield Wednesday match days.

The Old Hall Hotel in Hope have announced their beer festival dates for 2023. As usual all the bank holiday weekends from Easter through to late summer have an event, they’ve also crowbarred an extra event in for the King’s Coronation weekend. See our festival listings for all the dates.

The Tunnel Tap at Totley Rise has finally opened. No cask ale is available here but there are some quite acceptable craft beer choices on keg, usually including options from Abbeydale and Buxton. This micropub is on two floors with a bar on each and seating downstairs. They also have bottles, cans and minikegs available to take away.

Shakespeares Ale & Cider House at West Bar is planning one of their regular beer festivals for January, as usual featuring some interesting, experimental and silly one off special cask beers on gravity upstairs as well as a full range on the main bar. Keep an eye on their social media for details.

The Bar Stewards at West Bar has had a change of name and is now known as West Bar Tap. There have been some changes to the business behind the scenes but otherwise its the same place and people, other than a minor refit to part of the venue that has added some extra tables where the self service fridges were.

The Social bar on Snig Hill has closed down, unfortunately although it was a great little bar everyone enjoyed it didn’t prove financially successful. The associated brewery based in Attercliffe, BrewSocial, continues to produce beer and will keep going as long as it sells! Pictured is Juliet who managed the bar with a pump clip from every BrewSocial beer so far.

The Friendship Hotel in Stocksbridge recently opened their nine new contemporary first floor en suite letting rooms. This is a welcome addition to Stocksbridge and another contribution to its’ growing reputation as the centre of one of the best walking areas in the North of England.

Under new management, the Olde Mustard Pot (Midhopestones) reopened in mid-November. David and Nicola Briggs and Jonathan Wright, licensees of the Three Merry Lads (Lodge Moor) have added the pub to their portfolio. A change of beers and a new menu are in place. The pub opens daily from 11:30, food is available until 20:00. 

Inn Brief

The Pioneer Club in Dronfield has resumed their Sunday carvery.

A new sports bar in Hillsborough’s Barracks complex called Monkey Bar Club is opening. Food is provided by Smokin’ Bull, serving burgers etc.

The Alehouse micropub in Chesterfield recently celebrated their 9th birthday with a special line up of beer!

Fans of the Antics improvised comedy troupe will be pleased to know that another free show (tips welcome!) is planned at the Dorothy Pax bar for 17 November.

The Dog & Partridge is now free of tie and as well as the beer range starting to evolve there are now cask ale drinkers loyalty cards available – buy 9 pints and get one free.

The Blue Stoops in Dronfield closed temporarily in October, it has been sold by True North Brewery to the Chilled Out Pub Company.

The Tunnel Tap in Totley is expected to open on 21 October at 6pm with craft beer available on keg.

Festival specials

A small number of new one off beers were brewed especially for our Steel City Beer & Cider festival and are likely to also appear in pubs afterwards.

Abbeydale Brewery produced a special edition of their Black Mass, in memory of the late Martin “SillyWabbit” Reville who was a long standing festival volunteer. The regular beer is a black IPA, the special is infused with coffee and is served from a wooden cask.

Collyfobble Brewery had former Dronfield CAMRA chairman Rob Barwell visit for a brewday to upscale one of his home brew recipes – you can read about that elsewhere in this issue!

Crosspool Ale Makers Society and Hopscotch Craft Brewers collaborated to put in an appearance with “GingerBix and Chill”. This 6% ABV beer has a biscuit aroma and a sweet but fiery flavour from ginger biscuits and habanero chillies. It is amber in colour and leaves a subtle but satisfying warmth on the back of the throat.

BrewSocial is another brewer that supplied a special edition of an existing beer. “Good as Gold” is a strong hoppy ale, pure gold in colour. Sweetish, but not cloying. Generous addition of El Dorado hops give a tantalising taste experience. This cask at the festival had been specially dry-hopped for added golden goodness!

Champion Beer of Sheffield 2022

At the 46th Steel City Beer & Cider Festival, which took place at Kelham Island Museum from 19-22 October, we invited all the breweries in Sheffield to enter a cask beer into this competition which was judged via a blind tasting event, hosted by Sean Clarke from Beer Central on the opening day of the festival.

The winner was announced on stage Wednesday evening and here they are!

GOLD – True North, Devka IPA

SILVER – Stancill, Barnsley Bitter

BRONZE – Neepsend, Myron

Dean from True North Brewery with his certificate for Devika
Harry Geeves from Neepsend Brewery receving their award from Beer Central’s Sean Clarke

Brewery Bits

The newest beer from Stancill Brewery is Dragon, a zesty 3.9% ABV pale ale based on the Slovenian Styrian Dragon hop. Expect a light lemony flavour and aromas of melon and passionfruit.

A couple of recent beers from Imperial Brewery in Mexborough carry something of a satirical theme. Papering over the Cracks is a collaboration with Silver Brewhouse of Chesterfield and is a 4.2% hazy pale ale whilst Boris and Scarper is a 4.4% pale brewed with Ekuanot and Cascade hops.

Recent brews in cask from Grizzly Grains includes Broken Spectre at 4% ABV, which is hopped with UK Phoenix, NZ Pacifica and UK Olicana. The beer is light and refreshing with beautiful fruit salad vibes. Aromas of arpicot and mango followed by big hoppy pineapple flavours.

Heist Brew Co. have one of the retail units in the new Fargate shipping container development where you can buy their beer in cans along with a range of merchandise.

Emmanuales brewed a couple of cask beers for our Steel City Beer & Cider Festival – The K.B.G, a West Coast IPA and England’s Green and Pleasant Land, a green hopped IPA.

Chantry Brewery’s new special is Styrian Fox, a 4.1% ABV pale ale, and talking of Chantry they now have a taco van on many of the nights their tap room has gigs on.