Photographs by John Beardshaw.
Award presentations
Category: Awards
Club of the Year
Dave Pickersgill presents the Club of the Year Award to Lucie and Craig, managers of the Stocksbridge Rugby Union Football Club.
The award presentation took place during their Queen’s Jubilee celebrations, which included a beer festival.
Photo: John Beardshaw.
Pub of the Month June 2022
I was one of the first people through the door of Shakespeares when it re-opened in July 2011 and it has been a firm favourite ever since. Back then it was very much a cask-led pub, which was the style at the time, but also had one of the best malt whisky ranges I’ve seen outside Scotland.
Times change, and since then craft keg from abroad was added, followed later by craft keg from the UK, but never losing sight of keeping an excellent ever-changing range of well-kept cask.
I gave up beer ticking for the sake of it in 2017 but by that stage had drunk over 2,000 different cask beers at the Shakey, my second highest pub of all time and only 300 behind the Cask & Cutler/Wellington that I’d been going to for twice as long. For those who prefer to ‘stick to what they know’ Abbeydale Deception and Red Willow Feckless are permanent fixtures, while the other lines all change every few days, the pub keeps a tally and has so far served 6,700 different cask ales and around 1,400 different craft kegs.
While fully embracing the exponential growth of craft keg beer, beer manager Lucienne remains a huge cask fan and has persuaded many a craft brewery to supply her a cask of a beer otherwise only to be seen in keg and small-pack, particularly for the epic beer festivals held annually in the upstairs function room. ‘15% chocolate tonka maple barrel aged stout? Yeah we’ll have a cask please’. In the unlikely event you can’t find anything you want on the seven handpumps and nine craft keg taps, there’s also an extensive range of cans and bottles covering everything from Lambic to IPA to imperial stout…
The pub itself recently celebrated its 200th birthday, having started life as a coaching inn. The building features some impressive stained glass windows, and is decorated with breweryania ranging from historic through to some rather more modern pumpclips. Wooden barrels serve as tables in the area behind the bar, along with a new sofa (note: this is my ‘spot’, so people who aren’t me shouldn’t sit there), while the small ‘clock room’ features more traditional tables and chairs, and the long room has long tables and benches along with a dart board. Outside is a large beer garden/courtyard. Live bands are a regular feature in the upstairs function room, as well as musicians in the long room. The pub has deservedly won Pub of the Month several times, and in 2012 won the overall Pub of the Year for Sheffield & District.
Dave Szwejkowski
All are invited to join us there for a beer or two at the certificate presentation night on Wednesday 22 June from 8pm.
Shakespeares can be found at 146-148 Gibraltar Street, Sheffield S3 8UB. Buses 57, 81, 82 and 86 stop outside, alternatively it is a short walk from the City Centre or Shalesmoor tram stop.
Pub of the Month May 2022 presentation
Bar Stewards on Gibraltar Street was voted our May pub of the month award winner, photographed is our branch Chairman Glyn Mansell presenting the certificate to the team there.
Dronfield Pub of the Year
The Dronfield & District branch of CAMRA have presented their Pub of the Year award to the Miners Arms in Hundall, a country pub with a fantastic view over the valley and a great selection of real ales, all served by friendly staff!
A number of events are planned over the summer, many in the beer garden, including a programme of live music and of course they are participating in “One Valley Extra” festival on the Jubilee bank holiday weekend in conjunction with the Pioneer Club in Dronfield and Drone Valley Brewery in Unstone.
Hundall is served by TM Travel bus 15 (Dronfield-Chesterfield).
Pub of the Month May 2022
As I nominated Bar Stewards as a Pub of the Month I think I should, at least, write an article about this outstanding micro-pub.
Yet it’s a pub I’ve only visited once – on a damp, cold Saturday afternoon last December as, despite the weather, we continued on a city centre pub crawl and called in. The overwhelming feeling for all of us, as we stumbled through the door, was of being made very welcome.
There was a great choice of cask ales on the bar, along with a choice of keg beers for those who prefer them and some more in cans in the nearby fridge, all served by friendly and knowledgable staff.
As well as a few tables inside, there is a large yard at the rear with outdoor seating, some of which is under cover.
Bar Stewards was set up by a couple of beer enthusiasts, Alan and Charlie, initially as a pop-up for a couple nights a week and their project has progressed to being open every day of the week, mostly in the evenings but longer at the weekend. The venue is available for private hire and even offers a mobile bar service.
It’s our Pub of the Month award winner for May 2022. Give it a try. Join us for the certificate presentation (and a beer or two) on Tuesday 10 May from 8pm.
Bar Stewards can be found at 163 Gibraltar Street, Sheffield S3 8UA, between West Bar and Kelham Island. Buses 57, 81, 82 and 86 pass the front door or it is walkable from the City Centre.
Pub of the Year 2022 (West Sheffield and Overall)
The 2022 Sheffield & District CAMRA Pub of The Year is the Abbeydale Brewery community pub, the Rising Sun at Nether Green. It offers 12 real ales and a wide range of other drinks.
In addition, there is a creative, seasonal food menu that aims to showcase the best of British produce with both modern and classical techniques. The pub works with local suppliers and has a Field to Fork scheme which allows them to engage with local growers as part of their community ethos: you can swap your excess home grown produce for beer tokens. Food is served 12-9pm Tuesday-Saturday and 12-8pm Sunday.
Sheffield-based, Abbeydale, the second-oldest brewery in the city (1996), took over the pub from the University of Sheffield Students Union on 19 December 2005. The Union previously managed the building from 6 July 1992. For over a decade, the well-respected Sunfest beer festival was held at the pub during the second week in July. For obvious reasons, this has not occurred recently: we hope to see a return in 2023.
The current room lay-out of this large suburban roadhouse: a large public bar linking to a smaller room at the rear and a lounge to the right of the main entrance is clear in 1955 plans. There is also a glass roofed extension and a large beer garden. In addition to an area to the front of the pub, recent extensions have seen half of the car park repurposed for outdoor seating: a real bonus for the summer!
The original pub appeared in the 1859 General Directory of Sheffield, suggesting it opened around that period. The name is said to have been chosen for pubs facing east and receiving early-morning sun, as did the earlier Rising Sun. The current pub opened when the, then, owners, the Sheffield Town Trustees agreed to provide land for the widening of Fulwood Road free of charge to Sheffield Corporation in return for the demolition and reconstruction of the original pub. The building is set back from the original road and opened in July 1904. Up to the 1950s, the car-park behind the pub was a bowling green, with service provided from a ground-level hatch.
We hope you can join Landlord, Garry Raynes, and his team, at our presentation event on Tuesday 14 June, from 20:00 (presentation, 20:45).
All the 2022 Sheffield & District Pub of the Year winners:
Sheffield West and Overall Sheffield Pub of the Year – Rising Sun
Sheffield City Centre – Sheffield Tap
Sheffield East – Chantry Inn
Sheffield Kelham Island – Kelham Island Tavern
Sheffield North – Blake Hotel
Sheffield South – Sheaf View
District (Derbyshire) – Anglers Rest
Pubs in the Pub of the Year competition are ones that have either won a Pub of the Month award over the last year or have been awarded a place in the Good Beer Guide 2022. The area winners are chosen by a vote of the Sheffield & District CAMRA membership with the overall winner selected out of the area winners by a team of judges.
Pub of the Year 2022 (East Sheffield)
The Chantry Inn at Handsworth has been voted as CAMRA Sheffield & District Pub of the Year 2022 (East Sheffield).
This historic pub which was built around 1250 is uniquely one of only four pubs in the UK set in consecrated grounds being within the grounds of St Mary’s Parish Church in Handsworth.
It compromises of three different rooms each with some original and unique features including real fireplaces, beamed low ceilings and even the bell pushes used in previous days to order the ale. There are also claims of various tunnels and passageways from the cellar to the church.
It has had a varied past originally being a chantry and safe house for nuns, then a washhouse and a school before being a pub for much of the later years from the early 1800s.
Chantry Brewery acquired the pub in early 2019 and undertook a tasteful restoration and deliver real quality beers. There are always five cask ales on tap from Chantry brewery with a rotating special including Steelos, Kaldos, Full Moon alongside the regulars of New York Pale, Iron & Steel bitter, Special Reserve and Diamond Black stout. There are also changing keg beers available often from Tiny Rebel or Beavertown as well as cider and Chantry Brewery’s own Helles lager.
Congratulations to all involved with the Chantry Inn including the brewery and the pub manager Terry and his partner Alison. The area Pub of the Year award presentation is planned for the evening of Thursday 7 July and all are welcome to join the celebration.
You can find the Chantry Inn at 400 Handsworth Road, S13 9BZ. Buses 30,30a,52,52a,73,80 and X5 go there.
Pub of the Year (South Sheffield)
The Sheaf View at Heeley has been voted as CAMRA Sheffield & District Pub of the Year 2022 (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 provides eight real ales plus a wide range of Belgian and other continental beers. An incredible selection of malt whiskies also feature and traditional cider is also available.
This is a popular local pub and especially so on Wednesday quiz nights and Sheffield United match days.
The Sheaf View was previously voted Pub of the Month Feb 2018 , District Pub of the Year (Sheffield South) in 2019 and 2020.
We are presenting their award on the evening of Tuesday 12 July, 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 10, 10a, 24, 25, 43, 44 and X17 stop nearby on London Road by the railway bridge / Ponsfords furniture store. Car park also available.
Pub of the Year 2022 (Sheffield District)
The Anglers Rest at Bamford has been crowned Sheffield CAMRA District Pub of The Year for 2022.
In 2013, as the last remaining pub in the village, over 300 local people got together to buy it and turn it in to Derbyshire’s first community pub. It has been serving the people of Bamford ever since, and includes a post office and café as part of the site.
A selection of well-kept real ales are on offer, including Abbeydale Brewery’s Moonshine as a permanent beer plus rotating beers from other local suppliers such as Stancill and Peak Ales.
Like most pubs, the Anglers has suffered recently due to the covid pandemic. Difficulties in recruiting new staff, and enticing punters back has been a hard slog, but manager Sarah France and her team have been putting in long hours and hard work to return the pub to it’s place at the heart of the village. As Sarah says “We wouldn’t be the pub we are without our dedicated staff”.
The pub has a cosy feel with the different sections of the bar still open enough to be part of the overall atmosphere. A real fire and great locally-sourced home-cooked food add to the appeal. As a community pub there’s always plenty going on. Evenings regularly feature live music, quiz nights open mic nights, poker nights, and daytime activities in the café include coffee mornings and craft sessions.
We will be presenting the award on Saturday 30 July, we hope you can come and join us from 3pm to celebrate. Hulleys bus 256/257 will get you there.
The Anglers Rest will now be put forward to the Derbyshire regional section of CAMRA’s national Pub Of The Year competition.