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.
The Railway pub has been taken on by my family, with myself instated as the licensee. This is our first establishment, but we have been in the industry for over 50 years. Our main business is supplying equipment to the licensed trade, i.e. pool tables, jukeboxes, quiz machines etc. so as you can imagine running our own place has been something often talked about over the years, and with my recent inclusion into the family business we now have the man power to undertake the venture.
We had been looking for a suitable pub for a few months, asking around our sites for info on anywhere that may become available. When the owners of the Railway, a long time customer of ours, came to us and offered the pub free of tie it seemed the perfect opportunity, the previous landlord had finally called it a day after many years in the business.
The building needed a fair bit of work but after a lick of paint – inside and out – a new roof, plenty of woodwork and a complete overhaul of the cellar and bar – including new equipment throughout – we are happy to say we now have a range of draught beer and cider, including craft lager, a range of over 30 bottles from around the world, several wines, loads of whisky (another hobby of mine – along with the ale), and most importantly five real ale pumps constantly rotating some of the city and regions best ales.
We had a slow start as the pub has never offered real ale or bottles and has shifted quite dramatically from the previous ‘football pub’ setup, but as word of what we’re trying to do here has spread more and more Sheffielders are seeking us out for a pint. We’ve had a great reception from the locals and we are already starting to see the real ales outselling the lagers, something I expected to take well over six months! The pub is really starting to buzz, especially at weekends, and we’re looking forward to our time here.
Our next move is to introduce a selection of real cider and to get a weekly quiz up and running plus some tasting nights, where you can sample some of the more unusual bottles that we have collected on our travels across the continent (we’ve got some great bottles in from Molenbeek at the moment that I’m really looking forward to sharing) – the end of January being our target for all.
Jack Cater
The Porter Cottage, Sharrow Vale – Sheffield Pub of the Month, December 2015
The Miners Arms, Hundall – Dronfield Cider Pub of the Year
The Three Tuns, Sheffield – January Pub of the Month
The Hillsborough Hotel will be holding an alternative Burns Society Scottish beer festival from 4th to 7th February, featuring up to 18 beers from a range of Scottish breweries. Alternative Burns grew out of a group of ex-pat scots who wanted to celebrate the great poet in a slightly alternative way, and have used the occasion to raise money for local charities over the years. At the festival 20 pence from each pint sold will be going our nominated charity, which will be advertised during the weekend. A festival menu will be available, showcasing some of Scotland’s finest produce and including, of course, Haggis, Neeps & Tatties.
We will also be showcasing a range of Scottish Gins, Vodkas and Malt Whiskies which will be available over the weekend. Live music will be provided on Saturday night by some of the members of Hekety.
The Hillsborough Hotel is on the Blue & Yellow tram route, right next to the Langsett Road/Primrose View tramstop.
Hartlepool based Camerons Brewery has acquired The Old Monk. This City Centre venue is the company’s 16th managed operation and its first in Sheffield.
The Monsal Head Hotel including their Stables Bar has a new manager, Danny, who is looking to reinvigorate the beer offering there. Look out for beer festivals planned for the future.
The Grafton Hotel in Worksop is holding a beer festival from 8th to 10th July.
Changes are afoot at the Castle Inn, Bradway. By the time you read this it will have closed down for Enterprise Inns to refurbish, with the new leaseholders moving in soon. The new management are chefs Jack Baker and Jack Windsor, who have left Brewkitchen to start their own gastropub venture, hopefully they have the vision to make the Castle a success again.
The Noah’s Ark in Crookes has reopened.
Planning permission has been applied for to convert a shop unit in Broomhill on Glossop Road into a micropub.
After a hectic first six months we are looking forward to an exciting 2016 here at Neepsend Brew Co. Since we started brewing in June we have produced fourteen different beers and are starting to settle on a core range of our 4.0% Blonde, 5.2% Stout, a 5.0% IPAwith a changing selection of hops and a couple of pale and hoppy specials around 4.2-4.5%. We also brewed Hokkaido IPA – a 5.6% IPA dry hopped with Sorachi Ace – which has been well received and there are plans for some further stronger and more experimental brews.
We were delighted and very flattered to be named as ‘brewery of the year’ for 2015 by local bloggers, the Two Beer Geeks. We are a work in progress but are very happy with the start we’ve made and have got big plans for 2016. Watch out for a Neepsend presence at Sheffield Food Festival in May as part of the Sheffield Breweries Cooperative and and a brewery showcase at the Sheaf View during Sheffield Beer Week in March.
By now you should have received an email asking you to complete a short survey, as part of our plan to increase membership involvement during 2016. If you haven’t yet completed it, don’t forget the deadline is 15th February and all entries will qualify for a prize draw to win 12 bottles of craft beer. If you aren’t on our email list you should have received a paper copy of the survey with your Pub Of The Year forms.
Please contact us as soon as possible if you haven’t received either the email or the form.
The 12 bottles of beer have been donated by our friends at Hop Hideout who have selected 12 top quality craft beers showcasing the best in modern brewing. Based on Abbeydale Road in Sheffield, (next to The Broadfield) Hop Hideout is an excellent bottle shop which also features 2 draught pumps for drinking on the premises.
Visit the website www.hophideout.co.uk for more details of their range of world beers.
The Three Tuns on Silver Street Head is one of Sheffield’s classic traditional pubs, thanks to it’s triangular shape and the feeling of being on the bow of a ship for those occupying the seats in the window where the point of the triangle is!
Despite being a classic Sheffield pub, its location tucked away off Paradise Square has also led some to describe it as a ‘hidden gem’, which in the past has relied on an after work crowd from the nearby HSBC bank building and the various local solicitors offices, however it is now getting better known and much more popular.
Although refurbished to feel modern and comfortable, it also retains an old fashioned feel to the design and is simply somewhere you can sit in a relaxed and civilised atmosphere.
The atmosphere of the pub is helped by the staff – Manager Kate Major is a younger version of what some old timers would describe as ‘a proper pub landlady’ and her team offers friendly and efficient service at the bar.
Being part of the Reet Ale Pubs business, the beer range features a selection of cask ales from Blue Bee Brewery plus guests, these are spread across 6 handpumps. A real cider from the Westons range is also available.
Food is available at meal times on weekdays and all day on Saturdays, the pub only has a very small kitchen so the offering has been restricted to a selection of hot and cold sandwiches along with some hot meal options on the specials board, usually a curry or casserole dish.
This is the second time the Three Tuns has won a Pub of the Month award – voted for by our members – since Reet Ale Pubs took the lease from Punch Taverns, this one reflects the hard work by Kate and her team to not only maintain standards but grow the popularity of this iconic little pub of Sheffield.
We’ll be presenting the certificate at the Three Tuns on the evening of Tuesday 12th January, why not join us from 8pm and enjoy a few beers, it could be a bit of a party!
As usual all the beers in our recent Steel City Beer & Cider Festival were judged by a blind tasting panel to find out which were the very best beers in the festival.
The results…
OVERALL
Gold – Crafty Devil, Mikey Rayer All Dayer
Silver – North Riding, Red Citra
Bronze – Saltaire, Triple Chocoholic
MILD CATEGORY – Brass Castle, Hazelnut Mild
SESSION BITTER CATEGORY – Magic Rock, The Stooge
BEST BITTER CATEGORY – North Riding, Red Citra
GOLDEN ALE CATEGORY – Crafty Devil, Mikey Rayer All Dayer
STOUTS & PORTERS CATEGORY – Thornbridge Baize
STRONG ALE CATEGORY – Great Heck, Yakima IPA
SPECIALITY BEER CATEGORY – Saltaire, Triple Chocoholic
Firstly we were really pleased to win two awards back in October at Huddersfield Beer Festival. We won gold in the strong bitter category for Attack of the Geek6.0% which also just missed out at Sheffield Beer Festival coming second in the same category as well as this Ginger Beer4.5% came third in the speciality category at Huddersfield.
Ginger Beer will be available throughout the festive period. Although Attack of the Geek has sold out, the next in the series will be available in December: Revenge of the Geek4.5% is a red hoppy beer packed with Mosaic hops to give plenty of tropical fruit flavours and a combination of five different malts to give a robust malt body.
On top of this the next two single hopped IPAs will both feature southern hemisphere hop varieties the first from New Zealand: Rakau IPA5.0% the hops impart tropical fruit passion fruit and citrus characteristics. The second will feature Australian hops: Galaxy IPA5.0% these hops impart passion fruit and peach characteristics. Both beers are sure to have plenty of tropical fruit hop flavours.
A few other beers we are working include Into the Void6.0% a black IPA containing Columbus and Motueka hops. As well as Motueka Pale3.9% which will be a crisp refreshing pale beer showcasing this New Zealand hop.
Tom and the team at the Hyde Park have very recently won the most improved pub award for the Dronfield Area. This award is only given out when it is seen that a special effort has been made to improve a venue. Recently this pub was shut and was on the way to being boarded up. Developers were circling hoping to cash in by building on the site. However Tom was persuaded to move from the Psalter Tavern and to take over the running of this once popular pub..
He has gone back to basics with the pub by installing tasty local beers from Bradfield, Toolmakers, Sheffield Brewery alongside some of the favorites of Black Sheep and Spring head.
A new menu of very tasty home cooked food is on offer with Sunday lunches being particularly popular (Best to book in advance)!! Thursdays sees the return of the mind bending Quiz an regular Irish themed nights are planned.
It’s a real pleasure to see this pub back to being a comfortable oasis of good quality beers, wines and food and is showing to be more popular than ever…Congratulations Tom!
Rob Barwell
