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.

Steel City 47 – Talks, tours & tastings

Posted on by Dave Pickersgill

For the first time, events at the forthcoming Sheffield Steel City Beer Festival will include a guided
historical walk: Sheffield’s Little Chicago Quarter in 1925. This will explore streets that feature in the leader’s book ‘Sheffield 1925: Gang Wars and Wembley Glory,’ with a narrative explaining how Sheffield briefly became the most turbulent city in Britain because of an escalating gang war
involving the Park Brigade, Mooney Gang, the Gas Tank Gang and many others.

The short walk will explore the social and Industrial heritage of the area, examining the myths and reality of a tumultuous year in Sheffield history, before finishing at the Beer Festival.

Dave Pickersgill, editor of ‘Sheffield’s Real Heritage Pubs,’ will provide an illustrated presentation
while, the three tastings: ‘Bridging the Gap between Beer and Cider,’ ‘Cask is Craft?‘ and ‘From
Europe to Mars,’ will, between them, cover a wide spectrum of the 21 st century UK beer scene.

Mike Pomranz (Old Shoe) will compare two beers and two ciders: two ‘single variety’ and two of a
‘funkier’ description before sampling the single box of a 2023 mixed-variety Sheffield grown and
made cider from his Exemption Ciderhouse. Mike successfully delivered a similar, more cider-
focussed event, at the recent national Members’ Weekend.

Julia Gray will introduce four contrasting beers: two cask (gravity and hand-pull), one key-keg and one from a small pack. An experienced beer trade professional with almost twenty years in the field, she aims to showcase, “the variety and quality of beer currently available in the UK.”
Jules owns a local independent award-winning beer shop and tasting room, Hop Hideout (established 2013). In 2015 she set-up a city-wide beer celebration in her hometown: Sheffield Beer Week. In 2018, this was followed by a new craft beer festival: Indie Beer Feast, now an annual event.

Dann Paquette and Martha Holley from local brewery, Saint Mars of the Desert (SMOD), will
introduce two European favourites and the beers which they have inspired. SMOD draw their
brewing inspiration from many sources, from traditional 19 th century recipes to the bright, vibrantly hoppy beers of New England. Their greatest influence is possibly the Belgian monastic style. As Martha put it, “this is an ideal opportunity for us to look back to our key influences, the Belgian and German beers which inspired us to produce such classics as Clamp and Jack D’Or.”
After seven successful years managing the ‘Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project,’ in Boston,
Massachusetts, Dann and Martha spent two years travelling. In 2018, they relocated to the best beer city in the world. On RateBeer, they were quickly named as amongst the top ten new breweries world-wide. Their brewery and taproom is hidden behind old industrial units in a currently unfashionable part of the city.

The 47th Sheffield Steel City Beer Festival will be held at Kelham Island Museum: 18-21 October 2023. Advance tickets for all events are available: https://sheffield.camra.org.uk/2023/07/tours-talks-tastings/

Pub heritage publications

Posted on by Dave Pickersgill

Thanks to all the retail outlets which are stocking, one (or both) of the recently published Sheffield Pub Heritage publications: Abbeydale Brewery, Bath Hotel, Beer Central, Biblioteka (at their new premises on Eyre Street), the CAMRA Shop, the Crow, Dog and Partridge, Draughtsman (Doncaster), Fagan’s, Famous Sheffield Shop, Fat Cat, Hop Hideout, Kelham Island Books and Music, Kelham Island Museum, Makers Shop (Meadowhall), Millennium Galleries, Samuels Kitchen (Stocksbridge), St.Mars of the Desert Brewery, the University Arms and Weston Park Museum.

Both the booklet and the book are selling well – please contact pubheritage@sheffield.camra.org.uk for retail enquiries or copies by post.

Finally back to Bruges

Posted on by Dave Pickersgill

After a considerable delay, I recently celebrated a significant birthday in Bruges. The first visit since 2019. A Eurostar deal gave us with an excellent ‘room with a view’ – top floor at Martin’s Bruges, a few hundred metres from the Belfort, a short walk from both Brugs Beertje and De Garre.

The main focus of the weekend was the 16th Bruges Beer Festival. Located at the recently completed, Meeting & Convention Centre, this saw some 80 breweries providing over 500 beers. Included were 16 breweries new to this festival, including the, perhaps inappropriately named, Misery Co. – a reference to the Stephen King book. Their New England IPA (6.9%) was one of several beers sampled from the 12.5 cl customised glass. Among many highlights was the first appearance of Terrest with their 8% Golden Triple, brewed with both grain and hops from the family farm at Houthulst. Also available was, the rarely seen,  Westvleteren 12  (10.2%).

We had many conversations with other visitors – one memorable exchange was with the reserve mascot for Charleroi FC (‘the Zebras’).  Sheffield, ‘the home of football’ was a common topic of conversation, a theme which has world-wide resonance, a theme which Sheffield should extensively utilise.

We also visited several bars, some return visits, but also new experiences: Halve Mann provided the (almost) obligatory Bruges Zot (the only bar which serves this 6% beer unfiltered from the tap), Bauhaus gave us Brussels Beer Project Juice Junkie (5.4%) while old favourite, St. Bernardus 12 (10%), was sampled at Yesterday’s World. The latter is a quirky bar, or, more accurately, a two-floor antiques shop which serves a selection of beers: well worth a visit.

After sampling the excellent camerise sour, Cantillon Sang Bleu (6%), we were about to leave Brugs Beertje when De Struise Black Damnation XXVI (‘Freddy’), an excellent, but rarely seen barrel-aged Belgian Royal Stout, appeared on the bar. This 13% beer is an epic, not to be missed. Suffice to say, our visit to De Garre, and their 11% house tripel, was slightly delayed.

Fort Lapin Brewery was also visited on their Saturday tap day. Since my last visit, the brewery has expanded (four new fermentation vessels). In November, they are relocating to a nearby industrial estate in order to gain more space. Their 8% Triple was a good start to the day. Good to hear that the elder son of the owners, Tristan Vandenbussche, is now a sprint canoe European Champion.

In short, Bruges provided a much-needed break, good company, good bars and good beer.

Pub heritage walks

Posted on by Dave Pickersgill

Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, these guided walks are cancelled

As part of Heritage Open Days 2023, we are leading two pub heritage walks. On Thursday 14September at 5pm we’ll be on West Street and on Sunday 17 at 2pm, we’ll be in Kelham Island. Both walks will include Victorian tilework, terrazzo flooring, art deco glasswork, a mention of long-gone Sheffield breweries and much more…..

photo: Pete Mudd

Full details and booking information are available:

If you can’t wait until September, you could try the latest edition of the Sheffield’s Real Heritage Pub book: sheffield.camra.org.uk/rhp.

photo: Pete Mudd

Ticketed events for Steel City Beer & Cider Festival – October 2023

Exploring Sheffield’s Little Chicago Quarter in 1925: Gang Wars and a Murder Mystery.

Tickets for our first event are now available: a guided walk with a difference – you will explore Sheffield’s Little Chicago Quarter before your fast-track entry to our Beer Festival. Led by local author, John Stocks, you will explore the social and Industrial heritage of the area, examining the myths and reality of 1925, a tumultuous year in Sheffield’s history. The walk will explore streets that feature in your host’s book ‘Sheffield 1925: Gang Wars and Wembley Glory,’ with a narrative explaining how Sheffield briefly became the most turbulent city in Britain because of an escalating gang war involving the Park Brigade, Mooney Gang, Gas Tank Gang and many others.

The comfortable walk, with just one minor ascent, is under 2 miles and will last for approximately 90 minutes before concluding at Kelham Island Museum, and the 47th Sheffield Steel City Beer Festival (SCBF47) for a post-walk drink and discussion. There will also be the opportunity to purchase copies of the book.

This event will take place on Thursday 19 October; full details and advance tickets are available at: https://tinyurl.com/5yvvdyaw

Pub of the Month June 2023

Posted on by Dave Pickersgill

Congratulations to Mark Simmonite and all at Perch Brewhouse (44 Garden Street, S1 4BJ) on becoming Sheffield & District CAMRA Pub of the Month for July 2023. The bar opened less than two years ago and has already made a mark on the Sheffield pub scene.

Back in 2015, Dead Parrot Brewery obtained the site, opening their brewery, three years later, in Autumn 2018. At that point, they had the medium-term intention of converting the frontage of the complex, the old works offices, into a taproom.

Perch

Previous long-term users were a small engineering manufacturing company who produced pen-knives and similar devices. The site was subsequently used by Sheffield City Council Parking Services, acting as the base for Parking Meter Operators; electronic equipment was left to charge overnight.

Almost two years after the opening of the brewery, in June 2020, a planning application was submitted. Formal planning permission was subsequently granted, a comment from ourselves was mentioned in the official report:

‘We are writing in support of this planning application. The addition of a small brewery tap, with community facilities, will provide additional needed infrastructure. As well as fulfilling a local need for increased retail and leisure facilities, the addition of a brewery tap will allow the brewery to further cement its position as part of the Sheffield beer tourism scene.’

Conversion work continued during the various lockdowns. Plasterboard, partition walls and polystyrene ceiling tiles were removed, and a considerable amount of woodwork was reused. With careful use of contemporary materials, the old office space was stylishly converted into the new Perch Brewhouse, opening on 27th August 2021. It has since been nominated for a CAMRA/Heritage England Pub Design Award 2023.

In addition, the central yard now has a large timber-framed covered outside drinking/event area. Their first beer festival occurred during the recent national CAMRA Members’ Weekend. In addition to the ten Dead Parrot beers on the bar, an additional 35 cask beers were available in the outside area. The normal offering is ten cask, ten keg and over sixty bottles/cans. Food is also available, including a wide selection of pizzas. Perch is a welcome addition to beer opportunities in the city: please join us for their well-deserved presentation on Tuesday 13th June.

Members’ Weekend 2023

Posted on by Dave Pickersgill

CAMRA Sheffield & District recently hosted the 2023 national CAMRA Member’s Weekend, AGM and Conference: April 21-23 at the Octagon and adjacent Students Union building. There were 790 attendees, including 77 from our branch area. We previously hosted this event in both 1991 and 2011 and were also due to host the 50th anniversary conference in 2021: this was cancelled due to Covid.

The weekend included fringe events, brewery visits (both formal and informal), a tutored cider tasting and a guided pub heritage walk.

There was also a Members’ Bar. Construction commenced on Tuesday 18 April. During that day, all 63 cask beers were stillaged. By the end of Thursday, all beers were vented, tapped and labelled. The bar opened at 4pm on Friday 21 and closed, never to reopen, two days later. Visitors also took the opportunity to sample many of the 300+ beers which were available across the city in our excellent breweries and pubs.

We’ve had lots of positive feedback from the brewery visits:  the friendliness, the knowledge and the variety. After one visit, a visitor commented, in amazement, ‘the finance guy knew about brewing …..’ apparently, this is an unknown in her part of the UK. Not in Sheffield.

In addition, two new Sheffield pub heritage publications were available; over one in ten attendees purchasing a copy. As one happy customer said, ‘The updated Sheffield’s Real Heritage Pubs book and Sheffield Pub Heritage Walk booklet are both exemplary publications – well worth every penny.’

Feedback from the weekend has been very positive. The Members’ Bar was highly praised: ‘Whoever was in charge of the beer selections; well done! I converted from IPAs to darks after volunteering at Eastbourne last year and the range and taste of the darks was incredible.’

Other positive comments included:

‘All packed and ready to exit Sheffield. It’s been a fantastic venue for Members Weekend, AGM and Conference. The Team of Volunteers and Staff at the venue worked tirelessly to accommodate our needs. The cider tasting was one of the best.’

‘The organisation was exemplary as was the beer selection and service.’

‘Well done the organising committee, and all the volunteers and staff who made Sheffield such a well-organised and friendly event – an exceptional Members Weekend.’

‘You and your local team hosted a great and successful event. Well done to everyone and thank you. The challenge is now on to meet, or better, the experience from Sheffield in Dundee next year.’

We believe that Sheffield 2023 will be remembered in CAMRA history as one of the best ever Members’ Weekends: another winner from the best beer city in the world.

Thank you to everyone: attendees, brewers, pubs, staff and over eighty volunteers – who assisted with this event, we could not have done it without you.

Dave Pickersgill
Chair, Local Organising Committee, Sheffield MW2023

Pub of the Year 2023 (Cider)

Posted on by Dave Pickersgill

Congratulations to Mike Pomranz and all at the Cider Hole (unit 1.3, Krynkl, Shalesmoor, S3 8UL) for being voted the Sheffield and District CAMRA ‘Cider Pub of the Year’ 2023.

Since 2006, Mike has been writing about beer professionally, appearing in a wide array of publications including Time, People, Travel + Leisure, VinePair, and Playboy. He joined the staff of Food & Wine Magazine in 2014 and soon expanded into covering cider. He first experimented with making cider in 2015 and became a Certified Cider Professional in 2017.

In 2016, Mike moved from Brooklyn, New York, to Sheffield, where he continued his interest in cidermaking, focusing on using locally-collected garden apples. In 2020, he launched Quality Ferments and began importing cider and other alcoholic beverages from around the world.

Then, on 17th September 2021, The Cider Hole opened – an urban microcidery, bar, and bottle shop – where he makes and serves his own Exemption Ciderhouse cider along with over 60 other hand-selected canned and bottled ciders, craft beer and natural wine. In June 2022, Mike organised the first Sheffield Craft Cider Festival.

Last October he led a tutored tasting at the Sheffield CAMRA Steel City Beer Festival and more recently led a similar event at the national CAMRA Members’ Weekend.

Please join us for this well-deserved presentation on Saturday 27th May at 15:00. This is likely to be the last day of opening for the Cider Hole as Mike will shortly be moving into bigger premises on Orchard Square: The Old Shoe, a joint venture with the Bear (Abbeydale Road, S7 1FE),  will offer 20 taps, three cask lines and a wide selection of artisan ciders, cans and bottles. It will also become the new home of Exemption Ciderhouse.

Heritage pub book

Posted on by Dave Pickersgill

The recent Sheffield Heritage Fair highlighted the importance of our local heritage: how we learn about our past and how it shapes our future. One integral aspect of this interest is pubs: for centuries, the home of personal interactions and a barometer of social change.

For example, the recent Sheffield Beer Week saw 23 enthusiastic participants join a sell-out guided pub heritage walk in the Kelham Island/Neepsend area. On this occasion, parts were recorded for posterity:    https://tinyurl.com/dad8ezmt. Thanks to the Fat Cat, the Wellington and Alder Bar for hosting us. Similar guided walks are planned for Sheffield Walking Festival in September.

The recent Members’ Weekend, AGM and Conference saw the launch of, not one, but two new Sheffield-based Pub Heritage publications. Paul Ainsworth, Chair of the National Pub Heritage Group, also led a pub heritage walk. However, we knew more would want to follow the route than was possible to lead. 

Hence a 32-page, A5, full-colour booklet, including directions and background information was printed, providing walking instructions and information about local pubs and attractions on a 1.5 mile walk from the University Arms to Fagan’s. Suggested calling stops en route are the Bath Hotel, the Red Deer, the Grapes and the Dog and Partridge. 

In addition, a new edition of ‘Sheffields’ Real Heritage Pubs’ is now available: 120 pages, A5, full-colour, over 70 new images and many text changes. 

Thanks to the sponsors who have supported these publications: Abbeydale Brewery, Alder Bar, Bradfield Brewery, the Crow, the Dog and Partridge, Hop Hideout, the Rutland, Sheffield Beer Week and the University Arms. Copies of both publications are available at several local outlets. Please contact pubheritage@sheffield.camra.org.uk for postal and retail enquiries. They are also available as free downloads from the Sheffield CAMRA website: https://sheffield.camra.org.uk/rhp/

New Heritage Guides

Posted on by Dave Pickersgill

The recent inspirational Sheffield Heritage Fair and the equally successful, South Yorkshire Listing Project, continue to highlight the importance of our local heritage: how we learn about our past and how it shapes our future. One integral aspect of this interest is pubs: for centuries, the home of personal interactions and a barometer of social change. Pubs are part of our heritage; places where our ancestors lived, worked and relaxed: places that have had a major effect on the development of our city.

The latest edition of the book, Sheffield’s Real Heritage Pubs will be available for the forthcoming national CAMRA Members’ Weekend, AGM and Conference (21-23 April). Compared to the previous edition, this A5, 120 pages, new expanded version includes over 70 new images, new entries and considerable text changes and additions. As Exposed magazine stated:’ A must-have for any pub aficionado or history-buff.’

In addition, we also have a new 32 page Pub Heritage Walk illustrated booklet. This provides detailed instructions for a heritage walk from the University Arms to Fagan’s. Included en route are several pubs. This has been on sale from early March: two of the retail outlets (Beer Central and the Millennium Galleries) were forced to re-stock after less than a week. Other outlets include Kelham Island Books and Records and the University Arms.

Both publications are also available by mail order. Contact pubheritage@sheffield.camra.org.uk for both post details and retail enquiries. 

Thanks to our sponsors who have assisted with publication costs: Abbeydale Brewery, Alder, Bradfield Brewery, Crow Inn, Dog & Partridge, Hop Hideout, Rutland Arms, Sheffield Beer Week and the University Arms.