The Fargate

Following a £1m interior renovation, the Fargate opened on 22nd October 2025. The venue brings together the storied elegance of a large former bank with a carefully designed pub interior (SCC planning application: 24/02165/FUL). Located in the Sheffield City Centre Conservation Area, this new pub is part of the regeneration of Fargate: the road was pedestrianised back in 1973, revitalisation commencing in 2022.

On the ground floor (2680 ft.2), brass accents, chandeliers, curated artwork, dark polished wood, elegant leather seating and herringbone floors create the impression of a bar that could have been built in Victorian times. This level also features screened booths, a snug, banquette seating, and full-height glazing to the front, offering a light and inviting space. The striking horseshoe bar serves ten cask beers and sixteen keg lines. The cask offering tends to be six from the extensive, and well-regarded, Thornbridge range complimented by four interesting guest beers.

The original spiral staircase leads to the first floor (2017 ft.2). Here, a pizza kitchen with an Italian corner oven, is visible through glazed screens. The design combines reclaimed timber walls, decorated ceilings, and original architectural details to create a bright contemporary setting. Now used for storage, the basement includes the original strong rooms.

Branded, ‘Thornbridge & Co,’ the two-storey pub is a joint venture from Peak District-based Thornbridge Brewery and York-based importer and distributor, Pivovar. The other pubs in the chain are:

  • Banker’s Cat: Leeds (opened 2019)
  • Colmore: Birmingham (2019)
  • Market Cat: York (2018)
  • Wild Swan: City of London (expected to open in Spring 2026)

In the 1880s, the directors of the Yorkshire Penny Bank (previously the West Riding of Yorkshire Penny Savings Bank) bought the land to erect a new bank. Leeds-based architects Henry Perkin and George Bertram Bulmer took on the task. The corner stones were laid on 18th January 1888 by builders Armitage and Hodgson of Leeds and the building was officially opened by the president of the bank, Lord Lascelles, on 25th July 1889. It is late-Gothic design, with five-storeys and a long curved Holmfirth stone front.

The Bank occupied two floors. The basement contained the strong-room: ground level was the large banking hall, fitted out in polished wainscot oak with a mosaic-tiled floor.

The upper floors became a restaurant and high quality hotel. It was initially leased by Sheffield Café Company, formed in 1877 as part of a growing movement of temperance houses: their Albany Hotel opened in September with electric light throughout, a restaurant, billiard room, coffee and smoking rooms, private dining rooms and 40 bedrooms. By the 1920s, the Company was struggling financially, ceasing trading in 1922. Their assets were bought by Sheffield Refreshment Houses, who operated the hotel until closure in 1958.

In its centenary year, 1959, the Yorkshire Penny Bank became the Yorkshire Bank Ltd. The ex-hotel was converted into offices: Yorkshire Bank Chambers. The bank closed in August 2020. The external appearance remains relatively unchanged, with carved winged lions, medieval figures, shields and gargoyles on the outside of the building. Gabled dormers, lofty chimneys and a crenelated parapet were sacrificed during the 1960s.

As for the pub, following a pre-Christmas visit, respected beer bloggers Boak & Bailey stated: ‘the quality of the service, and the presentation of the staff, was impeccable. Despite the scrum at the bar we were served within seconds by a calm, polite, smartly-dressed young man. He was one of many people gliding about behind the counter and we got the sense that our expensive pints were covering the cost of proper levels of staffing for the season.’

I totally agree with their comments: the Fargate is not a cheap pub, but, as always, you get what you pay for. It’s also a welcome addition to local beer attractions.

The pub is located on the corner of Fargate and Surrey Street, Sheffield City Centre, S1 1LL. The nearest tram stop is Cathedral and there are numerous bus routes close by on High Street and Arundel Gate along with the free City Centre Connect bus SC1 on Leopold Street.

Sheffield Beer Week

Original Hop Hideout on Abbeydale Road

In 2013, Jules Gray opened ‘a labour of beery love’: one of the first ‘drink in’ beer shops in the UK, the multiple award-winning Hop Hideout. Originally based in a former Yorkshire Penny Bank on Abbeydale Road, 2019 saw a move to the Kommune food hall in the centre of Sheffield.

Hop Hideout’s taps when they were in the Kommune food hall

Five years later, after the rigours of Covid, brought relocation to the Grade II listed, Leah’s Yard (S1 4HP) when, it reopened after restoration. This early 19th century site was originally built as small workshops for the manufacture of hand tools.

Hop Hideout in Leah’s Yard

Brought up in County Durham, her journey to Sheffield included a bar-job in a local WMC, study at Sheffield Hallam University, time in both Birmingham and Manchester and after several other positions, working in technical support for a multi-national brewing company in Burton on Trent. After seven years, it was time to move on. A seminal conversation with Zak Avery, the founder of Beer Paradise and co-founder of Beer-Ritz (Leeds), led to an interesting question: ‘Why don’t you set up your own beer shop?’ The rest is history.

Jules also runs the annual Sheffield Beer Week (SBW,  https://sheffieldbeerweek.co.uk/). This takes place during the second week in March, coinciding with International Women’s Day (8th). Organised by Jules and her colleague, Claire Tollick, the first incarnation in 2015, saw about ten venues, with events spread over the week: recent years have had over forty venues. SBW and Norwich City of Beer are the only two UK-based city-wide beer events which have been in place for over a decade.

She recalls the first year: ‘SBW was inspired by the early days of my newly launched beer business. I was getting excited by the independent beer sector. I noticed that there were lots of beer weeks in America, and also Norwich City of Ale was happening in the UK. It was joined up with the frustration of hearing a lot of people talk about near-by cities like Manchester or Leeds and not mentioning Sheffield. And living in the city and seeing it, a tangible beer history, culture, brewers … I was getting quite frustrated as to why people were not talking about Sheffield. And I thought wouldn’t it be great to shout more about the beer scene in the city that I had made my home. And I spoke to a friend who really supported the idea and about two months before the date we got the ball rolling.’

‘After the first-year people saw the economic benefits: increased footfall, a heightening awareness and celebrating venues, the breweries, and the culture, but also attracting people from outside the region to visit Sheffield to discover wonderful things that we sometimes take for granted. I just love it. I want people to get that joy and excitement across to other people. On the flip side you do need a bit of a cheerleader to raise awareness and join up the dots of the community. There is a tipping-point. You need more than one, it becomes a trail. You bounce off each other.’

The main aim of this independent beer focused event is to bring additional footfall. The first three years coincided with Sheffield hosting the annual SIBA Conference, this providing a ready source of beer-interested visitors. When the SIBA conference moved to Liverpool, Jules was both humbled, and reassured, by the local demand for SBW to continue. It was something people thought was really valuable.

She recalls: ‘At the time it felt like the local council weren’t valuing the culture, community and historic value of the brewing and beer sector, the businesses which were driving visitor footfall. This has definitely changed: momentum has grown. That momentum has led the Sheffield Inspires campaign to include ‘the Craft of Brewing’ as one of their five main strands. It’s been a gradual positive relationship development.’

In 2020, SBW was the last large beer event in the UK before lockdown. Personally, I recall leading a Pub Heritage Walk on Friday 13th March. This was my last ‘big go-out’ for a considerable period … 16th March saw official advice to avoid all non-essential contact, lockdown following on the 23rd. The following year saw a virtual event.

Dave Pickersgill at the last pre-Covid SBW heritage walk

2026 brings the 12th incarnation: a week-long festival (6-15 March) celebrating the region’s brewing landscape. Collaboration is key with Sheffield’s bars, pubs and restaurants joining forces with both local organisations and local, national, and international breweries to host a large variety of events. I led my first SBW pub heritage walk from Fagan’s in 2017: this year, in collaboration with local historian, John Stocks, a talk, and a walk, will concentrate on Little Chicago.

Indie Beer Feast

SBW commences with Indie Beer Feast, a two-day celebration of independent craft beer: brewery bars, street food, low intervention wines, and fine cider.

Until 2020, this took place at Abbeydale Picture House. After a break due to Covid, 2022 saw a move to the 1930s industrial space of Trafalgar Warehouse.

Pete Brown, Author of “Tasting Notes”

As usual, 2026 will see several collaborative brews, all focused on the theme of Sheffield synth city: a tribute to the pioneering electronic music which the city has produced. For example, St.Mars of the Desert are hosting an, as yet, unannounced local band while relatively new breweries Duality and Ticking Clock are working together. Designed by Lewis Ryan, the visual map for the event is taking inspiration from the 1981 Human League album, Dare, while the botanical inspired artwork has been designed by local illustrator, Sanpo. There is also an input from well-known beer writer, Pete Brown, who at an event hosted by Hop Hideout, will be interviewed by music and culture writer Daniel Dylan Wray about matching beer and music.

As Jules put it: ‘‘Sheffield Synth City’ allows us to blend the creativity of our independent breweries with the ground-breaking spirit of our electronic music pioneers. It’s powerful to showcase how innovation thrives across all creative industries in the Steel City.”

Reflecting back on SBW, she comments: ‘it’s an umbrella event‘it’s something customers love, it really chimes with them, it creates a good buzz and excitement. There are lots of positives: learning and knowledge transfer. From both a trade and customer perspective, customers love it.’

‘Sheffield has so many things, the Home of Football, electronic music legacy, beer, and brewing. I think people don’t mention Sheffield, City of Stainless Steel and what drives the brewing industry. We don’t mention the impact we’ve had in the sector. To me, that’s a massive light-bulb revelation.’

The invention of stainless steel is often credited to Sheffield native, Harry Brearley, who in 1913, discovered that adding chromium to molten iron created a rust-resistant alloy. Stainless Steel is extensively used worldwide as a key part of the brewing process, from coppers to fermenting vessels to casks … it is an often un-noticed, but crucial part of the contribution of Sheffield to the worldwide beer industry: Sheffield could be seen as the ‘Home of Modern Beer.’

Beer tourism is a crucial cog in Sheffield; the footfall and financial benefit is a win-win for the local hospitality and brewing industries. Sheffield Beer Week is a crucial part of this jigsaw. We hope you all have an enjoyable time when you visit the best beer city in the world.

Jules Gray in Hop Hideout
Outside Hop Hideout in Leah’s Yard
Merch at Hop Hideout
Little Chicago talk at the Crow Inn

Planning Applications

We are very concerned by the increasing number of retrospective planning applications which have been submitted to Sheffield City Council.

The law is clear: to change the use of a building (‘a material change of use’) from that of a pub (use class ‘sui generis’) requires planning permission.

Recent local examples of such changes, without prior planning permission, include: the Big Gun, the Highcliffe Club, the Royal Oak (Mosborough) and the Royal Standard.Two of these examples have involved closing the pub, trashing the interior and, later, applying for retrospective planning permission.

The application for the Royal Standard is currently in progress whereas the application for the Big Gun was recently approved (‘Grant Conditionally,’ reference: 25/03230/FUL). On expiry of the lease, this pub closed in September 2023: the historic interior was gutted and, over two years later, planning permission has been obtained. This is despite flawed documentation, which included several errors. For example, the Big Gun was not ‘a former’ public house and its use class was not E(b). These, and other, errors should have invalidated this recent application.

At the time of closure, the Big Gun had many historical features. For example, the right-hand side of the snug had two bays of unique Victorian fixed seating with decorative bench ends that resembled a (acanthus) leaf. This heritage is lost forever.

For this, and other, retrospective applications, we would expect a rigorous reaction from the planning authorities: a response which makes it clear that this is potentially a serious breach of the law, not a simple administrative error: a response which clearly references Sheffield as one of the best beer cities in the world, a city which cares about its pubs!


Councillor Ben Miskell, chairman of the Transport, Regeneration and Climate Policy Committee at Sheffield City Council, said: “Pubs and working men’s clubs are a vital part of our shared heritage and community life, and every effort needs to be made to keep them open for the benefit of the community they serve.

“In the incredibly unfortunate event of one closing, it is vitally important that the new owners follow the correct process when planning permission is required, breaking planning rules will lead to the council taking a robust approach and use all the powers available to us.

“We also work closely with residents across the city to protect valued community buildings from village shops and community centres to local pubs – including by registering them as Assets of Community Value. Developers must respect Sheffield’s heritage, including the importance of our public houses.”

Sheffield Childrens’ Hospital

Sheffield Childrens’ Hospital snowflakes

Thanks again to all who made donations to Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity at SCBF49. Over the last few weeks, many of you will have noticed references to Sheffield CAMRA on their snowflakes.

Illustrated are: Sheffield City Hall, the Childrens’ Hospital, the Ryegate Centre and our Chair, Paul Manning and grandson, Marcus, with Theo the charity bear at the Becton snowflake unveiling.

Royal Standard

The Royal Standard – retrospective planning application

A retrospective Planning Application (25/030409/FUL) has been submitted for the Royal Standard (156 St.Marys Gate, S2 4AX). It is evident from both the application and outside observation, that the proposed changes have already occurred: the premises are functioning as a fast-food restaurant.

In planning terms, the key questions are:

(i) can the loss of a pub be justified in terms of local and national planning policies?

(ii) can the loss of a valuable community facility be justified?

This is a decision for the planning authorities. We are sure they will check that the applicants have carried out a full feasibility study as to the continuing use of the building as a public house before they commenced alterations.

We also note two heritage aspects of the building:

(i) the stone representations of the ‘Royal Standard’ flag above the two ground floor windows. As far as we are aware, this distinctive stonework is unique.

(ii) the ceramic tiling above the main entrance which says ‘Royal Standard.’ After many years of obscurity, this signage was revealed in early 2015 when the obscuring placard was storm-damaged.

It is not possible to accurately date these artefacts, except to say that they have been in place for many years, possibility for over a century. We hope that these heritage aspects will remain after this planning process is complete. We hope that the relevant SCC planning reports for this planning application will make appropriate references.

We look forward to the result of this planning application with interest: a retrospective application which has involved the loss of a public house.

CAMRA National Inventory

White Lion, Heeley
Grapes, Sheffield City Centre
Eyre Arms, Hassop
Three Stags Heads, Wardlow Mires

Despite on-going turmoil in the licensed trade, Britain remains blessed with many pubs that retain traditional and often beautiful, historic interiors. Over thirty years ago, a group of CAMRA members began formally compiling a National Inventory of such Historic Pub Interiors. Initially, they aimed to identify and record the most intact pre-war pub interiors, regardless of their architectural distinction. Before long, it was decided to also include pubs with special features or rooms of national significance. By then, around 270 pubs had inventory status.

The next step was to develop Regional Inventories, capturing interiors that fell short of the criteria for the national list but were nonetheless of significant historic interest. Around the same time, early post-war pubs built on traditional lines, and still intact, became eligible for inclusion.

Several years ago, CAMRA’s Pub Heritage Group (PHG) agreed to move to a single Inventory, based around a grading system. Interiors are eligible for consideration if they have remained essentially unaltered for at least 50 years. There are three key aspects for assessments: –

Layout – survival of historic layout and internal divisions, either intact or readily discernible.

Historic Fittings – particularly old or original bar counters, bar-backs (gantries), fixed seating, fireplaces, vestibules, panelling, tiling and other ceramics

Notable Rooms & Features – such as partitioned snugs; counter-less pubs; tiled paintings; snob screens etc.

The rarity of both historic layouts and historic fittings counts very high in the selection process.

The current grading system is, we hope, simple and easy to understand. Within the single National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors there are three grades:

Three Star pubs are of outstanding historic importance. They have stayed wholly or largely intact, in terms of layout and fittings, and/or retain rooms or features that are truly rare or exceptional. Only limited loss of such components is allowable before an interior fails this standard. Nationally, only 303 pubs are in this category.

Two Star pubs are of very special historic interest. They are highly important but fall just short of Three Star levels of overall intactness and/or rarity. Lost elements, often of layout, are clearly in evidence. There are presently 270 such pubs.

One Star pubs (740) are of special historic interest. They have either readily identifiable historic layouts or retain rooms or features of special interest. More significant changes are allowable than for the first two categories.

Bath Hotel, Sheffield City Centre

Locally, Sheffield has more pubs listed on the National Inventory than any other city in Yorkshire. Two pubs (Bath Hotel and Sheffield Tap) are listed as Three Star with another three as Two Star (Grapes, Sportsman (Hackenthorpe) and White Lion). A further 13 are listed as One Star. However, one of these (the Big Gun) has been closed for over two years: we are unsure if the Heritage interior remains intact. The Derbyshire part of our Branch area includes two Three Star pubs, the Eyre Arms (Hassop) and the Three Stags Head (Wardlow Mires).

Sheffield Tap, Sheffield station

PHG also campaigns hard to protect and promote these precious heritage assets. Over the years, we’ve been able to get many of them statutorily listed so that they enjoy an extra layer of protection from unwanted alterations. Where Inventory pubs come under threat of closure or unsympathetic change, we’ll do what we can to save them. On a positive note, we seek to raise awareness of the delights these pubs afford, through our website and a range of publications. One local example is the Sheffield Pub Heritage book (free download at: https://sheffield.camra.org.uk/rhp/ ).

PHG keeps gradings under continual review and makes changes where appropriate. Generally, this is because there have been alterations to an interior that impact on the pub’s historic importance. In other cases, members will re-assess current gradings, especially where a pub has not been surveyed for a long time or where a wider range of views is felt to be beneficial. Unfortunately, some NI pubs close and are subsequently demolished. A local example was the One Star, Silver Fox (Stocksbridge). The footprint of the pub and car park is currently a construction site.

You can find more information about the National Inventory, and heritage pubs, at https://camra.org.uk/heritage-pubs. A complete list of Inventory pubs is at https://camra.org.uk/heritage-pubs/national-inventory. We also issue a monthly bulletin featuring news – to subscribe, email bulletin@pubheritage.camra.org.uk with Subscribe as the subject.

We are always keen to hear from visitors to the listed pubs, especially where there have been changes of which we may not be aware.

Paul Ainsworth & Dave Pickersgill(CAMRA Pub Heritage Group)

SCBF49 visits Happy Valley

Saturday November 15th saw the annual Steel City Beer Festival volunteer day out. After a last-minute check on Storm Claudia flood warnings, our coach travelled north taking 46 passengers to the joys of Happy Valley. Here we met several fellow workers who had journeyed from other parts of West Yorkshire before splitting into smaller groups to investigate the 15 outlets listed on our guide. The relatively small size of Hebden Bridge meant that all of us spent the afternoon meeting-up with colleagues as we moved from pub to pub. As one participant said afterwards, ‘my first Sheff CAMRA trip. Got to say how great it was.’

Ten of us commenced with the most outlying pub: Stubbing Wharf with four hand-pumps. Then it was to West Yorkshire’s first community co-operative pub: the Fox and Goose where a single bar served three flagstone floored rooms and a beer garden which seems to stretch as far as Heptonstall.

Other outlets included the Albert (the ‘Duke of Wellington’ in the recent BBC series, ‘Riot Women’), Drink! – a specialist bottle shop and sampling room with bar, Hidden Hebden, the Trades Club, Vocation & Co. and the tap for local brewery, Nightjar.

Also visited was MAMIL*, a recent addition to a small local chain of cycle-themed café-bars: this was felt to be the bar with the most garish facilities.

Beers sampled included several from local brewery, Vocation plus many others. Big Drop, Black Sheep, Deeply Vale, Harrogate, Nightjar, Ossett, Pictish, Pomona Island, Redwillow, Small World, Squark, Theakston and Timothy Taylor were among the many breweries encountered.

Thanks to our driver, Glyn, and for their local knowledge as our map was constructed, Hebden residents, Alice, Josh and their dog, Mars. Also thanks to everyone who was on the coach for their exemplary time-keeping – much appreciated. Also, it was good to see that none of you turned left after using the on-board facilities.

See you next year!

* MAMIL, Middle Aged Men In Lycra, is an acronym which was heavily used in 2014 when the Tour de France visited Hebden Bridge and also saw it’s best-ever Grand Départ.

Festival’s record charity donation

Thanks to everyone at the recent Sheffield Steel City Beer Festival SCBF49) who supported Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity (SCHC). Your generosity produced a record charity donation from this Festival – a whopping £3500.00 – a donation rate of almost £100/hour, £1.60/minute!

This magnificent sum includes loose change, unused beer tokens, eBay sales of three full sets of SCBF49 beer mats, net proceeds from the charity beer and a donation from Sheffield and District CAMRA. Thanks to everyone who contributed and thanks again to Bradfield Brewery for providing the charity beer, ‘Pride of Yorkshire,’ a 4.3% abv bittersweet amber bitter which links to the planned 2026 charity sculpture trail. From next June, a new free trail will feature 150 large lion and lioness sculptures, and 150 smaller lion cub sculptures. They will be positioned across South Yorkshire to celebrate 150 years of the Hospital.

Festival Organiser, Paul Crofts said, ‘It’s a fantastic sum to raise for such a good charity. It was far more than we predicted and shows how much local people appreciate the work of the Children’s Hospital.’

Holly Newton-Steele, SCHC Corporate Partnerships Officer said, ‘This is absolutely incredible, thank you SO much!!! We are very grateful for your support and for making our team of volunteers and staff so welcome, I’ve had amazing feedback on just how brilliant it has all been …. it really will make such a difference.’ The festival was formally opened by Holly and local legend, Reverend and the Makers lead singer, John McClure.

During the next month, look out for the Children’s Hospital Christmas displays which formally thank: ‘Sheffield CAMRA Steel City Beer Festival 2025.’ There will be snowflakes at both the Children’s Hospital and City Hall with snowflake tags at Ryegate (Paediatric Neuro-disabilities) and Becton (Paediatric Mental Health).

Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity works together with the hospital, to ensure that children and young people can receive the very best care, in the best possible environment. The money raised buys life-saving equipment, funds vital research and treatment for thousands of children from across the world and helps create a comfortable, engaging environment for hospital patients.

Thanks again to all who contributed.

Beyond Craft

An event at the Portland Works in early October saw the formal launch of a new report by Prof. Phil Withington and Dr. Nicholas Groat (University of Sheffield) which explores the place of ‘craft’ alcohol in the city’s past, present, and future. The research was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Sheffield was chosen as previous reports have established the city as the ‘UK capital of beer.’ A high density of independent breweries is mirrored by a large proportion of independent pubs, bars, and specialist off-licences.

An immediate key finding: one which was not expected at the project inception is that the word ‘craft’ has been devalued. It is now a problematic term, one which has been taken by the multi-nationals.

‘Independent’ is more appropriate. This captures a commitment to small-scale, autonomous artisanship, passion, skill & community (see for example, the SIBA ‘Indie Beer’ campaign). ‘Independent’ is part of the Sheffield heritage.

Since 2021, Sheffield and District CAMRA publications have defined ‘craft beer’ as ‘a meaningless phrase, often used in marketing or an enigma: ‘undefinable and misunderstood.’’ It seems that the University researchers agree with this definition.

The study also shows how the independent sector’s geography reflects Sheffield’s long history as a ‘city of neighbourhoods’ and how the values and working practices of the sector can contribute to a sustainable and vibrant future. The ‘Independent’ sector forms a significant proportion of sites dedicated to producing, retailing & consuming alcohol. The survey found that 42% of their sample (464) were independent. Sheffield has a high percentage of such ownership, a direct reflection of the city’s unique history of distinct, interconnected neighbourhoods.

Other findings include a local emphasis on drink ‘better’ not ‘more.’ In addition, quality of ingredients, culture of drinking environments and responsible & considerate habits are all important.

The lack of means for the independent sector was to organise was also noted. There is no city-wide forum, a need for liaising with city authorities and a lack of marketing & other strategies to enhance the sector.

Recommendations include:

  • Use ‘independence’ not ‘craft’
  • Form a Sheffield Indy Drinks Hub as the collective voice of the sector
  • Explore how other places with concentrations of independent producers organise and market themselves
  • Promote Sheffield’s local unique heritage
  • Strengthen partnerships with Local Authorities

The full report and a summary is available at: https://sites.google.com/sheffield.ac.uk/place-craft-and-alcohol