Author: Admin

Shakespeares

Gibraltar Street, Sheffield City Centre The winner of our Sheffield Pub of the Year competition has been announced as Shakespeares on Gibraltar Street. The award winner is selected by local CAMRA members being invited to vote for their top 6 pubs in the city which are then judged objectively on individual visits by a number of judges, who score the pub on criteria including the availability, range and quality of the cask beers, consumer friendly practices, clientele mix, service and the general experience of visiting the pub. Shakespeares, under its previous ownership of Punch Taverns, was closed, sold off and spent a year or so boarded up. The current owner, William Wagstaff (who also owns the New Beehive Inn in Bradford), bought the pub and invested in bringing the building up to standard and the construction of an extension, without losing the simple charm of this old coaching Inn. The pub is managed day-to-day by Chris Bamford and Robin Baker. The bar has an extensive and ever changing range of well kept and carefully selected beers from small craft breweries both local and across the UK along with artisan cider, all at reasonable prices. There’s also an upstairs concert room known as the ‘Bard’s Bar’ with a busy programme of live music. Shakespeares also hosts a beer festival every few months. This involves all the handpumps on the main bar showcasing local breweries and a temporary bar constructed upstairs featuring new, rare or interesting beers from the rest of the UK along with an extended cider range and entertainment. For the summer festivals the event spills into the beer garden with a stall selling freshly baked pizzas. Shakespeares does not normally serve food other than sandwiches, crisps, nuts etc but if asked nicely are generally very friendly and accommodating if you wish to have a curry delivered from the takeaway over the road to eat in the pub with your pint! We’ll be presenting their award certificate at the pub on Tuesday 8th May. Celebrations commence 8pm and all are welcome to come down for a pint or two and toast the pub’s success. As the Sheffield winner, Shakespeares goes forward to CAMRA’s Yorkshire Pub of the Year competition, the winner of which gets into the national competition. Sheffield & District CAMRA also award a District Pub of the Year which is entered into the Derbyshire competition. The winner of this was the Anglers Rest at Millers Dale. Dronfield pubs are no longer judged by Sheffield branch as it now has its own subbranch who choose their own Pub of the Year winner. This was The Three Tuns in Dronfield Hallowes which has also gone into the Derbyshire competition. They also awarded a Country Pub of the Year award to the Rutland Arms in Holmesfield.