CAMRA Sheffield & District
Sheffield & District branch of CAMRA
The Old Hall Hotel at Hope, which was recently damaged by fire caused by a faulty piece of kitchen equipment, is now fully back open – bar, restaurant and accommodation.
To celebrate this and get the word round, a special relaunch evening was held with invited guests including regular customers and other locals, journalists and local CAMRA Chairmen along with a VIP guest – Simon Theakston, MD of Theakston Brewery, whose beers can always be found on the Old Hall’s bar.
Landlord Rick Ellison was the perfect host and guests enjoyed sampling Theakstons beers and a number of dishes from the restaurant’s new menu, then when it came to toast the relaunched Old Hall out came the obligatory giant bottle of fizz…..
The Old Hall continues to host regular beer & cider festivals, the next one will be August bank holiday weekend. 
Starting off at the Marble Arch pub on Rochdale Road. The birthplace of Marble brewery, this pub has plenty of Marble beers on, as well as guest ales from the likes of Darkstar and Hawkshead. Marble have long had a reputation as an outstanding brewery and the beer I chose was Marble Pint, which was the perfect beer to start off with on a hot summers day, in a pub with a wonderful grand interior. The food menu looked very enticing as well, although this wasn’t the venue where I chose to eat.
From the Marble Arch I set off back down Rochdale Road towards Manchester town centre, coming to the Angel. Another friendly traditional pub with beers from the likes of Liverpool Organic and Pictish. From there I headed to Bar Fringe on Swan Street. A small bar with plenty of Belgian beers and 5-6 cask ales.
Carrying on down Swan Street, past the Smithfield pub, which is currently closed for refurbishment I came to the Crown & Kettle at the junction with the Oldham Road. This was my favourite pub of the visit. I started off with an IPA from the much hyped Cloudwater brewery.
Then I sampled a couple of pale ales on cask from another new Manchester brewery called Track. Both of which impressed me more than Cloudwater IPA. The ceiling in the Crown & Kettle is also of note, although I dread to think what the cost would be for much needed repairs to this ceiling.
From the Crown & Kettle I headed away from Swan Street to Pie & Ale. A new place that, as the name suggests, specialises in craft beer and pies. The cask ale was good and so was the food. Looking at places such as Craft & Dough in Sheffield, and Bundobust in Leeds, I think that the craft beer and street food combination is going to be a trend to watch out for before too long.
I then headed to Port Street Beer House, a bar that I’ve heard much about for some time. As such I was quite enthusiastic about visiting this place and happily this small, cosy bar didn’t disappoint. The beer I had was Thornbridge/Wild Beer Co Tart, which was indeed quite tart!
My final stop before catching the train back was the Piccadilly Tap. Another new bar on the approach to Manchester Piccadilly station that was very busy when I visited. Downstairs it has a similar layout to London’s Euston Tap. The beer I sampled in here was an old favourite. Thornbridge Cocoa Wonderland.
I came away very impressed with the Manchester beer scene. It has a very good mix of breweries and venues and is right up there as one of the top beer destinations in the UK right now.
Tom Sturgess 
The pub got it’s name from HMS Sheffield, a large model is displayed in the tap room. The original HMS Sheffield was fitted out with stainless steel from Sheffield and became known as the Shiny Sheff. There is interesting information about the ship around the room in which there is also a dart board and pool table.
The conservatory has been opened up to bring it into the lounge which has a panoramic view of Higger Tor across the back wall of the raised area and there are photos of the Peak District around the wall. The managers Andy and Paul are making everyone welcome, with regulars in their favourite seats and former customers returning. Bradfield Farmer’s Blonde is the regular beer and there will be two rotating guests.
There is a full menu from tasty snacks to roast dinners and mouth watering desserts. Throughout the week there is something for everyone, Tuesday is free pool and poker night and on Thursday there is a music Quiz. Friday is Karaoke night there is live entertainment on Saturday night. On Sunday night there is a general knowledge quiz and open the box. You have got to be “Init To Winit”
The 51 bus to Lodge Moor serves the pub and there are wonderful views across Rivelin Valley from the decking at the front of the pub. 
