Author: Dave Pickersgill

Dave has been a CAMRA member since the 1970s and has worked at almost 40 Sheffield CAMRA festivals, plus a fair number of others. He is Brewery Liaison Officer (BLO) for Abbeydale, Blue Bee, Bradfield and Loxley. He was also the Chair of the Local Organising Committee for the 2023 national CAMRA Members’ Weekend, AGM & Conference. A member of the National Pub Heritage Group, he leads on planning and pub heritage issues. He also edited the Sheffield's Real Heritage Pubs book, for which downloads vastly exceeded expectations. The hard copy was available in October 2018 and again in 2021. On both occasions, it was a sell-out. The 5th edition (2023) is available as both a hard copy and a free download.

Carbrook Hall

Posted on by Dave Pickersgill

As you are probably aware, as a pub, the ACV-rated, Carbrook Hall closed in March 2017 and over two years later reopened as ‘Starbucks Carbrook Hall.’ Just before Christmas, I finally visited. The Jacobean wood panelling in the ‘Old Oak Room’ has been retained and is in good condition. However, the ceiling has received a heavy dose of white paint. On my previous visit, in April 2019 while renovations were taking place, the ceiling was exhibiting the distinctive colourful design which had been in place for years.

This heavy use of white paint is the heritage equivalent of taking white paint to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (1471/81). From 1508/12, Michelangelo painted the Renaissance frescoes on the ceiling. They remain to this day. The same should have happened to the paintwork on the ceiling of the Old Oak Room.

Suffice to say, that was my last ever visit to a Starbucks.

Dave Pickersgill

Local history – Worksop & Retford Brewery

Posted on by Dave Pickersgill
Some time ago, Beer Matters published a request for information about the WRB, taken over by Tennants in 1958 and demolished in 1962. Thanks for all information which arrived. Visits were also made to archives in both Nottingham and Sheffield, Bassetlaw Museum in Retford, the Dukeries, the National Brewery Centre in Burton-on-Trent and, of course, Worksop itself. The Worksop & Retford Brewery was a large employer and a landmark enterprise for the whole of Bassetlaw. Worksop malt was critical to the success of brewing operations in Manchester and the Midlands. Victorian photographs provide an indication of the sheer size of the operation. Ornate wrought iron gates opened out onto a large eye-catching and decorative five storey building, built from bricks of different colour in a style in favour at the time. After almost four years, publication has finally happened. The almost forgotten story of what was once one of the town’s foremost industries tells a story of a brewery that was both typical of many regional, independent breweries, and yet also unique in its creative use of marketing and iconography. The illustrated publication The Worksop and Retford Brewery Company, is richly anecdotal and will be of interest to anyone interested in either Worksop and its history, or with a passing interest in beer and brewing. It also provides the historical backdrop for the forthcoming novel, Beer, Balls and the Belgian Mafia. The book is currently available on Amazon Kindle for ‘only’ £1.53, less than the price of a pint of beer. Dave Pickersgill