Author: Paul Crofts

Paul has been a committee member since 2014, as well as being on the festival committee. ‘I have enjoyed all the various roles I have played in that time, particularly my functions at [the 2017] festival, and I was delighted to be press-ganged into being the Festival Organiser for [the following] year (thanks Louise!). ‘As well as being fond of “lowering a couple for the tonsils”, I'm also a big music fan, particularly live music. Feel free to stop me for a chat anytime you see me in the pub (particularly if you want to sponsor something at the festival).’

Steel City 50 preview

Posted on by Paul Crofts

Steel City Beer & Cider Festival celebrates its golden jubilee

Yes, the Steel City festival reaches its milestone 50th event this October, and we’ve lined up a few extra things to help celebrate. Here’s a rundown of everything you can expect when visiting Sheffield’s original and best beer festival.

200+ cask beers, 30+ ciders & perries, 80+ keg beers

Spread across four bar areas, we have a fantastic range of beer, cider and perries to offer. As well as the numerous one-off special beers, we have managed to get a few beers in wooden casks, and have also brought in some beers which were at the very first festival. St Mars of The Desert will be serving two beers from their very popular German Stichfass keg on Wednesday evening, and we’ll have some special ciders courtesy of The Old Shoe.

Guest Breweries

Our separate room featuring guest breweries proved a big hit last year, so we’ve added another bar this year. Ticking Clock Brewery from Shireoaks, Black Lodge Brewery from Liverpool and Trig Brewery from York will be bringing their own bars where you can try their beers and talk to their people. An exciting addition for 2026 is the Women On Tap bar, which will be celebrating women in brewing by featuring seven different beers all brewed by women at nearby breweries. Some of the brewsters will be on hand to talk about their beer as well as their experiences in the brewing industry.

Commemorative glasses

Of course you’ll need something to drink out of, and we have a fantastic new design on the two festival glasses. Here’s a preview to help you decide which to choose when you arrive.

NEW – Champion Homebrew of Sheffield competition.

For the first time, we are having a homebrew competition, and with the four finalists already chosen we can tell you that the standard is very high. The finalist’s beers are being scaled up and produced commercially by four local brewers – Little Critters, Little Mesters; Blue Bee and Duality. On the Wednesday night, we’ll be judging those four to see which is crowned Champion Homebrew of Sheffield. This will be presented as the same time as our regular Champion Beer Of Sheffield award.

Talks and tasting events

We’ve a variety of events to keep you entertained and informed. Well-known beer writer Pete Brown will be hosting his beer & music pairing session; Kelham Island Brewery will be talking about the history of the brewery and how it connects with Sheffield’s recent brewing past; Our ever-popular Heritage walk takes you through the history of the locality; Abbeydale Brewery will be hosting a guided tasting through a number of their beers; and Women On Tap founder Rachel Auty will be talking about the role of women in the beer industry.

Due to popular demand, we’ve increased the number of runs of the mighty River Don Steam Engine, giving visitors even more chance to experience it in action.

An interesting part of the Museum which is usually closed to festival-goers is the Hawley Tool collection, and we’re pleased to announce that this will be open on Thursday and Friday afternoon with Museum staff on hand to discuss the exhibits.

Music

We’ve brought back five of our favourites from previous year’s festivals so visitors on Thursday Friday and Saturday will have some top-quality music to keep them entertained. Highway Child, Soul Battalion, Loxley Silver Band and The 88’s will be playing in the Upper Hall, and Kelham Rapper will be popping up all over the venue with their riotous sword dancing.

Food stalls, CAMRA shop and Tombola stalls

You’ll be spoiled for choice when it comes to eating at the festival. Eight different stalls will be on site offering a variety of sweet and savoury treats including several vegetarian options. Our Tombola stall will be making it’s usual appearance giving visitors the chance to win some Finest Quality Merchandise and the CAMRA shop has a vast array of historical items recently gifted to us from members who have sadly passed away in the last year. A highlight of the shop though, will no doubt be our limited edition Henderson’s Relish bottles.

Charity

Our charity for this year is Support Dogs, who provide dogs to people for a variety of support needs. They will be bringing a few of their dogs to meet visitors on Thursday and Friday afternoon and will also have staff collecting for the charity at other times who will be happy to talk about the charity and the work it does.

Volunteers

And finally, a massive thank you to all our volunteers who help to organise and run the festival. It literally couldn’t happen without their hard work and enthusiasm. If you fancy joining our happy band, simply visit sheffield.camra.org.uk/scbf/ and scroll down to the volunteer section.

Shuffleboard tournament

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Steel City Festival volunteers got together recently for an afternoon social in the Gardeners Rest.

Following a successful event last year, a Shuffleboard tournament was held again, with beer vouchers on offer for the lucky winners.

After a few hours of competitive shuffling, and a few pints, of course, Paul Rugg emerged as the knockout competition winner, and Geoff Downing took the prize for the day’s highest score, a very respectable 106.

A post-match visit to a couple of nearby pubs rounded off a very enjoyable afternoon. Roll on next year’s competition.

(We couldn’t resist sneaking a bottle of our limited-edition Henderson’s Relish in to the photos!)

Hallamshire House

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The Hallamshire House pub in Commonside has just been reunited with a long-lost sign last seen in the late 90’s.

It’s a fascinating story of how it happened, although how it disappeared in the first place is still a complete mystery.The pub was contacted by a couple from Leeds who were offering to return one of their old pub signs.

Landlord Doug Simpson was obviously intrigued, if somewhat baffled by the call, and keen to know more.

Apparently, the couple had lived in Brooklyn for many years, and around 25 years ago had visited a neighbour’s apartment where they were amazed to find the sign hanging on the wall.They instantly recognised the sign from their days as University Students in Sheffield in the late 1970’s.

The neighbour had bought it for a friend, as a wedding gift, but the wife didn’t like it, so he ended up getting it back! When the couple returned to Leeds in 2009, the neighbours kindly gave them the sign, where it sat for the next 17 years, leaning against a wall due to the weight!

After a recent house move, they decided the sign should return to its rightful home, and a call was made to the pub to see if they wanted it back.Doug jumped at the chance, and when the couple said they didn’t want anything for it, but would like a donation to charity, Thornbridge Brewery readily agreed and Sheffield Children’s Hospital was the happy recipient.

The sign is now on display in the pub, proudly hung over the fireplace in the back room.Of course, the question of how it got to New York in the first place is still unresolved so if anyone knows anything about it, The Hallamshire would be keen to talk to you.

New Beer Shop in Sheffield’s Moor Market

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Following the recent demise of Beer Central in Moor Market it looked like Sheffield had lost one of its longstanding bottle shops. However, ex-employee Vince Cooper has now taken over the premises and opened as Barrel & Anvil. We’re glad to say that Vince has been exceptionally busy since opening, but he found time to answer a few questions about setting up the business and his plans for the future.

First of all Vince, congratulations on opening Barrel & Anvil. Can you tell us a bit about your background?

I started at Pangolin in 2020 having never poured a pint and spent a year there whilst working for Morrisons. This was my job for 15 years, I spent more time down the beer aisle and hundreds of beers have been tried over the years. I did a little stint at Beer House S6 as manager which I loved. When Beer Central started looking for staff when reopening I got a job.

When did you first think of starting up?

As soon as the previous owners made myself and Ciara redundant I messaged the market team about taking on the unit myself. The seeds were planted before that as the owners were looking to sell and unfortunately for them we were way apart in terms of valuations.

Has anyone in particular been helpful whilst setting up that you would like to mention?

I guess the main person is Sean Clarke the original owner of Beer Central. He’s been very helpful the last 4 months, always there for me and still is. Debbie from Neepsend Brew Co has been a good ear too. Matt from The Bear also gave me some wise advice that’ll stay with me.

Why take over the Beer Central site, rather than looking for new premises?

The Moor Market still has fantastic footfall, there’s 70,000 students around the city centre, lots of city workers who are interested in beer, and the traditional ale fans flock to the market for their beer if supping at home.

Everyone was gutted when Beer Central closed its doors, you ask some of the other traders and one of the most popular questions was “will it reopen as a beer shop?”

I spoke to family and they were like ‘give it a shot’, so here we are.

What will you do differently to the previous owners?

 Have beer on the shelves and try to cater to as many folks as possible. I’ll be doing it all myself mostly then come October time I’ll employ someone else for Saturday and just see where we go from there. I should hopefully have a fully functioning website by Xmas time. The socials interactions are great at the moment.

Hopefully it’ll be more like how it was when Sean was in charge but with my little spin on it.

Any particular suppliers or beers you want to mention?

Courier Brew Co have been fab, Thistly Cross Cider, Adam over at Track, the guys at Distant Lands have been fantastic. I’m excited to have Ashover Brew in the shop… the list is endless.

Will you be doing the box saves? It feels like half of Sheffield must have typed “One please Sean” at some point in the past, so we know it’s a popular option.

I’ve just started doing box saves. Once the website is up and running there should be an option to pay for products, build a box etc.

Great. So it’ll be ‘One please Vince’ in future!

Finally, what are your opening hours?

Currently Monday – Saturday 9am – 5.30pm. These may be subject to change, but we’ll announce it on our socials if they do.

Barrel & Anvil is located at Outlet MS3, The Moor Market, Sheffield, United Kingdom, S1 4PF. Visit www.facebook.com/barrelandanvilsheff for more details.

Live music at the Steel City Beer & Cider Festival

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To celebrate our 50th festival, we’ve lined up some excellent music for you and brought back three of our absolute favourites from previous years. The festival takes place at Kelham Island Museum 21-24 October with music included from Thursday night onwards.

Highway Child – Thursday 22nd October 8pm

Formed in 2004 and boasting a classic rhythm section and a dynamic brass ensemble, the band’s sound is as big and as polished as the songs they play. With an extensive repertoire of classic songs from artists such as Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and James Brown to mention but a few, Highway Child will get you dancing and keep you having fun all day and night.

Website – www.highwaychild.org.uk

Soul Battalion – Friday 23rd October 8pm

Soul Battalion deliver a world-class tribute to the golden age of Soul & Motown.

This dynamic 8 piece band presents a fully live show with powerhouse female vocals, a blazing horn section and a dynamic rhythm section.

Experience 32 dancefloor classics from The Supremes, Martha Reeves, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Gloria Jones, Frankie Valli, Tina Turner and more.

Get ready to dance, sing and relive the magic

Website – soulbattalion.com

The 88’s – Saturday 24th October 6.30pm

The 88’s are a classic rock covers band, influenced by 70’s and early 80’s rock, delivering a high octane performance. Their sound is soulful & accessible in equal parts, featuring songs from the likes of The Faces , Bad Company, Howling Wolf, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, The Rolling Stones and many more.

Muscular vocals, bluesy riffs & all your classic rock favourites. A barnstorming close to the festival.

Website – www.facebook.com/rocket88uk/

More information about our 50th Steel City Beer & Cider Festival can be found at Steel City 50 – CAMRA Sheffield & District

Sponsorship deals remaining at Steel City 50

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There are still three sponsorship packages available for our Steel City Beer & Cider Festival at Kelham Island Museum this October. The event runs for four days attracting around 6,000 visitors in total.

The deal includes having the name of your business on display along with some free ticket packages that include entry, souvenir glass, printed programme, games voucher and a free pint of ale or cider.

Stillage Sponsor – £125 + VAT – gets you an A2 board with your company logo displayed on the stillage (the racking that holds the beer barrels behind the bar) along with three sponsor tickets.

Banner Sponsor – £100 + VAT – gets your advertising banner (up to 3 meters wide and 1 meter high) displayed in a prominent location in the festival venue along with two sponsor tickets.

Handpump or cask sponsor – £60 + VAT – gets your logo attached to either a cask end label (for a beer poured on gravity direct from the cask) or a handpump. Cask end labels are A4 sheets, cards attached to a handpump are A6. This also includes two sponsor tickets.

For more information please email sponsorship@sheffield.camra.org.uk.

SC50 Sponsorship flyerDownload

Fabulous Festival food

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Visitors to this year’s Steel City Beer & Cider Festival will have a great range of options for satisfying their hunger pangs whilst sampling some equally great beers. Here’s a rundown of what you can expect.

Courtyard

The courtyard by the Marquee features 4 hot food stalls.

Festival favourites Sunshine Pizzas will be serving up their usual mouth watering fresh pizzas, using organic slow-proved dough, cooked in a wood-fired oven. Vegetarian and vegan options available.

Yuleys Bratwurst need no introduction. These regular vendors at the festival offer German Pork Bratwurst, Smoked Ham Krakaver or cheese and ham Kaiserwurst, all cooked over charcoal.

Get the bold soulful flavours of Jamaican street foodfrom Carribean Fusion. Favourites such as Jerk Chicken, Curried Mutton, Fried Dumplings, and of course Rice & Peas are all cooked to traditional family recipes. Vegetarian curry also available.

Expect all your traditional chip shop favourites at Smith Fish & Chips. Cod, Haddock, Chips, Fishcakes, Sausages, Mushy Peas, Gravy, Curry Sauce, Bread Cake. With plenty of Salt & Vinegar obviously!

Upper Hall

Fairfax Distillers & Chocolatiers will satisfy your sweet tooth with their range of high quality, handmade chocolates. Try pairing them with one of their spirits, available to drink at the festival or to take home in bottles.

The Cheese Factor have a wealth of experience in selecting, sourcing, storing and serving the best of English and Continental cheeses, available in sandwiches, ploughman’s lunches, and Cheese and Biscuit platters.

Sheffield Legends Hendersons will have a stall selling their new range of crisps and other snacks all flavoured with their much-loved Relish. Dedicated fans will also be able to buy t-shirts or bobble hats to display their love of the famous spicy table sauce.

Stone Garden

At the back of the venue accessible through the Engine room, is the keg bar, and the Stone Courtyard. Taco Trailer will be serving proper, flavour packed tacos with a focus on quality, bold flavours, homemade fillings, and fresh tortillas.

The Steel City Beer & Cider Festival is at Kelham Island Museum in Sheffield 21-24 October. Visit www/sheffield.camra.org.uk/festival for full details

Charity brew & skydive

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Little Critters employee, and Steel City Beer Festival volunteer. John Starey, recently jumped out of a plane to raise money for Weston Park Hospital Development Fund. Luckily there was a parachute involved, and he returned safely to earth!

After being diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer in August 2024, John was treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy at Weston Park and has nothing but praise for their staff. “The quality of care and attention I have received is nothing short of incredible”.

Little Critters themselves were only too keen to get involved to support John’s efforts, and brewed a special beer, Weston Park Pale, with a percentage of profits going to the charity.

The jump took place at Hibaldstow in Lincolnshire, and has raised over £2,500 so far.

Search ‘John Starery’ on justgiving.com to donate.

Albion

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The Albion on London Road has been relaunched by the team behind Corporation under the guidance of Joe Rugg, better known as Pints Of Sheffield, and the man behind Pintstock festival.

A six-figure refurbishment has saw the interior restyled, and the large beer garden updated to include a pizza stall, DJ box and extra undercover seating.

The pub has 3 cask lines, which had beers from Abbeydale and Stancill on the opening night, but will feature rotating guests. They also have 12 keg lines, and a wine selection curated by Barks Wines.

A long way for a pint!

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Jenny Kidd, bartending legend at The Bear on Abbeydale Road, has recently completed a sponsored walk in aid of MIND, the mental health charity.

Over 4 days, Jen walked the 82 miles to Cleethorpes, raising more than £2,600 for the charity. Here she is having a well-earned pint in the “Message In A Bottle” micropub in Cleethorpes.

A fantastic achievement and well done to Jen for raising such an impressive amount, although 1 pint in 82 miles might also qualify her for world’s worst pub crawl! Cheers Jen.

Anyone wishing to donate to this worthy cause can simply visit the JustGiving page, and search “Jenny Kidd”