A relatively recent convert to real ale, Phil joined CAMRA in 2016. Since then he has worked as a volunteer at several beer festivals and visited numerous breweries.
He is also on the Steel City Beer & Cider Festival organising committee, with both IT systems and cellar duties.
The Sheaf View at Heeley has again been voted as CAMRA Sheffield & District Pub of the Year (Sheffield South) by our members.
The 19th century pub, near Heeley City Farm became a real ale oasis since reopening as a free house in 2000. The walls and shelves are adorned with breweriana and provide an ideal background for good drinking and conversations.
The pub changed ownership becoming part of the Trust Inns estate (along with the Blake Hotel) in 2022. Day to day management however has remained unchanged. They now provide eight casks ales, 4 from Neepsend Brewery and 4 guest ales. A wide range of Belgian and other continental beers, an incredible selection of malt whiskies and traditional cider are also available.
They also have occasional events such as beer festivals and live music sessions.
This is a popular local pub and especially so on Wednesday quiz nights and Sheffield United match days.
The Sheaf View has now won the Sheffield South Pub of the Year award 5 times (every time it has been awarded since the area awards were started in 2019)
We are presenting their award on the evening of Thursday 6th June, all are welcome to join us there from 8pm for a beer or two!
The Sheaf View can be found at 25 Gleadless Road, Heeley, Sheffield S2 3AA. Buses 20, 24, 25, 43, 43a, 44 and X17 stop nearby on London Road by the railway bridge / Ponsfords furniture store.Car park also available.
In May last year I went on a short weekend break with friends to Wrocław, Poland to coincide with the Wrocławski Festiwal Dobrego Piwa, which translates as the Wrocław Good Beer Festival. Held over three days in late May or June each year. Last year was the 13th Festival held on 26-28 May.
The event took place on the concourse of the Tarczyński Arena, a football stadium in Wrocław built for the 2012 European Football Championship. It is indicative of the Polish love of cured meats that it is sponsored by a sausage company! Over 70 breweries from across Poland operated stands selling beers, ciders and meads direct to customers. Numerous stalls selling a variety of Polish savoury and sweet food options and a stage with live bands/DJs complemented the drink offerings.
Our plan was to attend the festival in the late afternoon and evenings and spend the rest of our time visiting some of the many nearby tourist attractions.
The historic city of Wrocław itself is located on the river Oder in the southwest of Poland. The German border is around 150 km West and the border with Czechia less than 75 km to the southwest. One of the popular landmarks in Wrocław is the market square in the old town. Here beneath the Old Town Hall is Piwnica Świdnicka one of the oldest restaurants in the world, open continuously since 1273. In front of the town hall we sampled some of their own beers from an outside portable bar. We then had a dark beer, Ciemne Piwo, at the nearby Spiz restaurant.
Friday morning day we drove out to the Stołowe Mountains National Park on the Czech border. Here we explored the unusual rock formations on this section of the “Table Mountains”. We then walked a few miles across into Czechia to small hostel to have refreshing glass of KrakonošCzech Pilsner.
That evening we headed to the beer festival sampling various beers including Attack of Fruitiness(Fruited Gose) from TankBusters, Sangriale(Fruit beer) from Pinta, and much needed plate of golanka, a Polish pork knuckle dish.
Saturday morning we headed over to Książ Castle. A very impressive 400 room castle, once home to the Hochbergs, one of the wealthiest European noble families. It is built in the Renaissance style with surrounding terraces and landscaped gardens. Despite is fairy tale looks however it has a dark past. In 1944 the castle was seized by the Nazis. Under SS supervision, a vast network of underground tunnels was dug below the castle using forced labour from a nearby concentration camp. Parts of these tunnels are now accessible to the public on guided tours.
After following the interesting audio guided tour around the castle, while waiting for our tunnel tour, we relaxed in the terraced gardens with a cheesecake washed down with a Książęce Cherry Ale.
In the evening we then made our way back to the beer festival. Beers sampled included a Podróż na wschód (Polish Session IPA) from Markowy brewery and a Berliner Weisse from Lobster brewery.
On Sunday we headed north to the town of Żagań. During World War II however, this was the German town of Sagan and home to the Stalag Luft III prison-of-war camp, made famous by the 1963 Hollywood film The Great Escape and also featuring in this year’s Hanks/Spielberg mini-series Masters of the Air. There is a visitor centre and museum, featuring a full-size reconstruction of Hut 104 from which the tunnel “Harry” was started. To the west of the site you can drive into the forest to the location of the North Compound used for British and Commonwealth POWs. Here are stone slabs marking the route of the “Harry” tunnel, memorials inscribed with the names and nations of the inmates and a reconstructed guard tower giving views across the site, where the foundations of the various buildings can be seen.
In the evening, we headed back into Wroclaw to see the multimedia fountains (one of the largest displays in Europe) at Szczytnicki Park near the UNESCO World Heritage Centenary Hall.
On the final day we visited various outdoor drinking locations in town, including a bar on a riverside floating pontoon. In the evening, we went to the Solidarity themed restaurant Konspira. Here we enjoyed some regional Polish dishes, washed down with some Polish cider, seated in the back of a jeep located in the venue’s courtyard.
This was my second visit to Wrocław, and I would certainly recommend it as European weekend break location. This year’s festival is from Fri 21 – Sun 23 June 2024.
Phil Ellett presents POM award to manager Jason Kerr, second right, of the Walkley Beer Company
Walkley Beer Company opened in 2014 in a former florists shop. Over the years it has increased its opening hours from weekends only and is now only closed on Mondays.
Technically not a micropub but an Off License shop with a tasting bar, it is described by themselves as “A local living room offering on and off sales.” and I concur with this description.
Their normal offering is a cider and two cask ales on hand-pull along with 6 keg beers on draft. Follow on beers and ciders are lined up ready to replace those that have sold out. This is in addition to fridge after fridge of bottled and canned beers.
Walkley Beer Co has a very friendly atmosphere and clientele and they offer a constantly changing range of cask/keg beers from both local breweries and others the length and breath of the UK.
Their normal opening hours are 4pm-10pm Tue-Fri and 2pm-10pm Sat-Sun.
The presentation will take place at the Walkley Beer Company on the evening of Tuesday 14 November, join us from 8pm for a beer or two! Bus 95/95a goes past the front door or bus 52/52a are just a short walk away.
The Sheaf View at Heeley has been voted as CAMRA Sheffield & District Pub of the Year 2023 (Sheffield South) by our members.
The 19th century pub, near Heeley City Farm became a real ale oasis since reopening as a free house in 2000. The walls and shelves are adorned with breweriana and provide an ideal background for good drinking and conversations.
The pub changed ownership becoming part of the Trust Inns estate (along with the Blake Hotel) in 2022. Day to day management however has remained unchanged. They now provide eight casks ales, 4 from Neepsend Brewery and 4 guest ales. A wide range of Belgian and other continental beers, an incredible selection of malt whiskies and traditional cider are also available.
They also have occasional events such as their Spring Time Vegan Beer Festival held over the 1st May Bank Holiday this year.
This is a popular local pub and especially so on Wednesday quiz nights and Sheffield United match days.
The Sheaf View has now won the Sheffield South Pub of the Year award 4 times (every time it has been awarded since the area awards were started in 2019)
We are presenting their award on the evening of Thursday 18th May, all are welcome to join us there from 8pm for a beer or two!
The Sheaf View can be found at 25 Gleadless Road, Heeley, Sheffield S2 3AA. Buses 20, 24, 25, 43, 44 and X17 stop nearby on London Road by the railway bridge / Ponsfords furniture store.Car park also available.
On Saturday 11 February, members of the Sheffield & District branch headed all around the city and its surrounds to complete the Sheffield Pub Survey (the first we have done since lockdown). The purpose of the event was to take a snapshot of the range and cost of real ales and to update CAMRA’s WhatPub database with post-Covid opening times.
Groups on various different routes set off at midday and met up at the Red Deer in the City Centre. From here, those that could still make it, headed out to other areas and pubs which had not yet been surveyed. As during our last survey (Sep 2019) the weather was good especially considering the survey is not normally in February.
131 Pubs were surveyed (fewer than we would have liked), but a respectable 561 beers were recorded. From this data 309 unique beers were identified from 129 different breweries. Given the time of year, the general trend of reduced beer ranges post-Covid and surveying fewer pubs, we still believe Sheffield can claim to be the Beer Capital, offering the widest choice of cask ales. In fact, for the 110 pubs which were surveyed in person (rather than using data available via social media) an average of 4.6 cask ales per pub were available for sale on the day, the same number as during the pre-Covid survey in Sep 2019! For 77 pubs which were surveyed both in 2019 and again this year there was a decrease in the range of beers from an average of 5.52 beers per pub, down to 4.95. This represents a drop of only 10% in choice which with all things considered is quite positive.
The average cost of a pint of real ale was £3.63 (up 40p/12% compared to Sep 2019). If Wetherspoons and Samuel Smiths are excluded from this data the average cost per pint was £3.90 (up 56p/17%). With no beer duty increases since the last survey, prices are up in excess of 3.5% per year but we suspect most of the increase has been in the last two years. The cheapest beers were Green King’s Ruddle’s Best and IPA at £1.71 a pint. The dearest was a 9.5% Monsters English Barleywine 2021 by Torrside Brewing at £6.60.
Local breweries dominated the pumps with Bradfield (63), Abbeydale (51) and Thornbridge (28) being the top three most widely available.
The top spot this year was taken by Bradfield’s Farmers Blonde available in 28 of the pubs surveyed, with Abbeydale’s Moonshine and Sharp’s Doom Bar taking the second and third spots.
A special thanks to everyone involved in going out to venues and gathering all the data to make up this survey.
