Tom and the team at the Hyde Park have very recently won the most improved pub award for the Dronfield Area. This award is only given out when it is seen that a special effort has been made to improve a venue. Recently this pub was shut and was on the way to being boarded up. Developers were circling hoping to cash in by building on the site. However Tom was persuaded to move from the Psalter Tavern and to take over the running of this once popular pub..
He has gone back to basics with the pub by installing tasty local beers from Bradfield, Toolmakers, Sheffield Brewery alongside some of the favorites of Black Sheep and Spring head.
A new menu of very tasty home cooked food is on offer with Sunday lunches being particularly popular (Best to book in advance)!! Thursdays sees the return of the mind bending Quiz an regular Irish themed nights are planned.
It’s a real pleasure to see this pub back to being a comfortable oasis of good quality beers, wines and food and is showing to be more popular than ever…Congratulations Tom!
Rob Barwell
Dronfield CAMRA’s Pub of the Season awards are designed to celebrate the good pubs in the area consistently serving top quality real ale in a pleasant atmosphere. The winners are chosen by local members like you by voting for their favourites.
The shortlist for the Winter award, to be voted on at the December branch meeting, is:
Hare & Hounds, Barlow
Dronfield Arms, Dronfield Town Centre
Rutland Arms, Holmesfield
To qualify to take part in the vote, you must be a CAMRA member resident in S18 and have visited the pub you are voting for as a customer recently. If you cannot make the branch meeting it is possible to vote online at www.dronfieldcamra.org.uk.
SHEFFIELD PUB OF THE MONTHJohn at the Devonshire Cat receives their November Pub of the Month awardOctober Pub of the Month at the Mount Pleasant, Norton WoodseatsJOHN BEARDSHAW
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DRONFIELD PUB OF THE SEASONJames at the Coach & Horses receives their Dronfield Pub of the Season award
I have pleasure in announcing that the Pub of the season was recently awarded to Coach and Horses In Dronfield, this is a very successful pub and our congratulations go to James and Ash for their hard work and effort. This award has been a long time in coming and recognises the excellent range of beers on offer and the friendliest of atmospheres that this pub prides itself on.
Recently Coach and Horses have made a discount for members available to CAMRA members this is shown on the posters near the bar and as this pub is a Thornbridge venue will always have the popular Thornbridge beers on the bar…
This pub is also a lynch pin of the popular 3 Valleys festival in Dronfield, I am aware that this is planned for early June again…
ROB BARWELL
The Porter Cottage is on Sharrow Vale Road, just behind Ecclesall Road. Tim and Mandy Price have been in charge for 25 years. It is believed the pub was an old coaching inn established 150 years ago, subsequently acquired by Duncan Gilmour and then Tetley. It is now part of Wear Inns based in Castle Eden, Co Durham.
The handpumps dispense Bradfield Farmers Blond and Bitter (and Belgian Blue when available) together with Abbeydale Deception and Sharps Doombar, as well as a guest beer usually from Saltaire or Kelham Island. For cider lovers there’s Weston’s Wildwood.
Quiz nights are Tuesday and Sunday, and from 4 to 6pm on the second Sunday each month is an acoustic session with various artists, and at the same time on the 4th Sunday there’s live blues in conjunction with the Honey Bee Blues Club and Martin Bedford.
The Porter Cottage is open from 5pm Mon – Thurs, and from 12 noon Fri – Sun. The Cottage is a well run friendly pub with a good local following, and there’s a nationally acclaimed alternative jukebox.
So it’s well done to Mandy, Tim and their team.
Derek LongfordThe Pub of the Month award will be presented on Tuesday 8th December from 8pm. Nearest bus stop is Hunters Bar on routes 81,82,83,83a,88,272.
The Devonshire Cat has been a well known Sheffield ale house for as long as I’ve been drinking in Sheffield, however in January last year it was taken over by Abbeydale Brewery and had a new lease of life breathed into it. Its 12 handpumps always include Moonshine, Deception, Absolution, Dev Cat Bitter and Dev Cat Stout as house beers, served as you would expect in impeccable condition. The range of guests from near and far has improved greatly too under Abbeydales excellent stewardship, and any patron should look out for the ‘Jazz Marque’ awarded to to the guest beer on the bar he deemed best by Assistant Manager Jon ‘Jazzy’ Stevens.
Like most successful pubs these days the Devonshire Cat also serves up some fine food, alongside its ales, with a menu with something for everyone. If you’ve not eaten here before definitely give it a go. The Dev Cat also boasts 14 keg lines, an excellent bottle selection and a wonderful spirit list thats well worth perusing and sampling. The pub has an events list to cater to all, weekly Monday pub quizzes, regular tasting nights are held with Starmore Boss, the recent “CatFest”, and regular promotions on different beer and bottle styles.
As ever though a list of attributes like great beer, great food, quizzes etc does not necessarily make a great pub. The atmosphere, the staff, the belief in quality and the over riding sense that the pub is a haven for people to visit, to enjoy , to try something new, to meet friends and socialise is all encapsulated here, right in the centre of Sheffield. Abbeydale and their dedicated enthusiastic team have reinvigorated this pub and made it a must visit destination in Sheffield.
Andy StephensThe Devonshire Cat is on Wellington Street in Sheffield City Centre, a short walk from public transport at West Street or Moorfoot. We’ll be presenting the certificate on the evening of Tuesday 10th November, all are welcome to join us for a pint!
The 2016 CAMRA Cider Pub of the Year competition has now opened for nominations. Anyone in Sheffield can nominate Sheffield pubs that promote real cider and sell a good quality range, the deadline to nominate pubs is 30th November and this can be done online by logging on to www.camra.org.uk/cider-poty-nominations.
Sheffield CAMRA branch will then judge all the pubs entered in our area and pick the best one to put forward to be judged in the Yorkshire county round, which is the route into the national competition.
The previous few years the Sheffield winner has been the Harlequin on Nursery Street -will their ongoing efforts be offer decent cider go rewarded or will a new cider hero be found?
Shakespeare’s on Gibralter Street were presented with their Pub of the Month Winners’ certificate on the 8th September by Sheffield CAMRA Vice Chairman and beer festival organiser Louise Singleton.
The presentation night was made into ‘a bit of a do’ with a huge choice of great beers, buffet and entertainment.
The Mount Pleasant is almost 200 years old, having been built in 1828. The Beer House Act was passed in 1830, but it was not until 1840 that the then owner, A Reuben Rogers, paid 2 Guineas for a licence, having been caught selling ale illegally. Since then there has been a further eight licencees, the present incumbent being Stuart Burrows, who took over in 1993.
The pub is an excellent old fashioned one, with a friendly atmosphere and very efficient bar staff. You can enjoy good conversation without the distraction of music.
Six handpumps are in use and apart from the Tetley Bitter and Gold, the remaining ones are a variety of guest beers. These usually include Blonde Witch and one from the Welbeck Abbey Brewery. Adnams Ghost Ship has also been a recent regular.
There is a quiz on Thursdays which Stuart writes himself and to quote one customer ‘never was there a landlord who knew so much useless information!’ The darts team compete in the Woodseats league and there is also an active fishing club. Stuart also runs a Whisky club where members meet to taste rare whiskies from around the world.
He describes the Mount Pleasant as a public house unspoilt by progress and has written a history of the pub, complete with pictures, which is well worth reading. It will also be included in the 2016 National Good Beer Guide.
Opening hours are 5pm-12pm Mondays to Wednesdays, 5pm-1am Thursdays and Fridays, 3pm-1am Saturdays and 12 noon to 12:30am on Sundays. Bus 20A passes the front door of the pub and bus 20 stops nearby. (Note the 20A is replaced by a new route 18 from 1st November).
Join us on Tuesday 13th October from 8pm for the award presentation evening where all can expect a warm welcome and a cracking pint!
Carole Ware
The Kelham Island Tavern in Sheffield has been named ‘Yorkshire Pub of the Year 2015’ and will now go forward into the next round of the National Pub of the Year 2015 competition. The Kelham Island Tavern is situated in Russell Street in Sheffield, and has now won the prestigious title for a record seven times, having previously won it in 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, and 2014. It is owned and run by Trevor Wraith and his team, and is featured in the new CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2016: “Former National CAMRA Pub of the Year, this small gem was rescued from dereliction in 2002. Twelve handpumps dispense an impressive range of beers, always including a mild, a stout and a porter. In the warmer months you can relax in the pub’s multi award-winning beer garden.” The Runner-up in the competition was the Sun Inn in Pickering. This was the first time that the pub had been nominated for a Yorkshire Pub of the Year competition. Situated in Westgate, it has been run by Rob & Sharon as a free house since April 2010. The pub offers up to six real ales — mainly sourced from small Yorkshire breweries — and two real ciders.
CAMRA’s Yorkshire Regional Director, Kevin Keaveny, said “The standard of the competition was extremely high again this year, but as last year, the judges felt that the Kelham Island Tavern just ‘ticked a few more boxes’ than the other nominations. The owner and the staff of the pub have set a very high standard for the last two years, and for most of the previous nine years”.
Kevin Keaveny will present framed certificates to the licensees of the two pubs mentioned above at some time in the near future, when special presentation events have been arranged.
The eighteen nominations for this year’s prestigious title were visited by individual members of a judging panel. Each nomination was scored against strict criteria that included an emphasis on the Quality of Real Ale and Community Focus. Also considered were Atmosphere, Style/Decor, Service and Welcome, Value for Money, and Sympathy with CAMRA’s Aims.
The other pubs that were nominated were: Brown Cow in Keighley, Old No.7 in Barnsley, Flower Pot in Mirfield, Crown Inn in Manfield, Jacobs Beer House in Bradford, Dr Phil’s Real Ale House in Middlesbrough, Grove Inn in Huddersfield, Three Pigeons in Halifax, Harrogate Tap in Harrogate, Chequers Micropub in Beverley, Kirkstall Bridge Inn in Kirkstall, Beehive in Harthill, Junction in Castleford, Maltings in York, Corner Pin in Doncaster, White Hart Inn in Hawes.
Alan Canvess
The finals of the Champion Beer of Britain competition (CBoB) were judged at the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) in London in August with the results announced on stage at the trade & press session.
The winners were:
Supreme Champions
Gold: Tiny Rebel – Cwtch
Silver: Kelburn – Jaguar
Bronze: Dancing Duck – Dark Drake
Mild
Gold: Williams Brother- Black
Silver: Rudgate – Ruby Mild
Bronze: Great Orme – Welsh Black
Best Bitter
Gold: Tiny Rebel – Cwtch
Silver: Highland – Scapa Special
Joint Bronze: Barngates – Tag Lag / Salopian – Darwin’s Origin
Speciality
Gold: Titantic – Plum Porter
Joint Silver: Kissingate – Black Cherry Mild / Saltaire – Triple Chocoholic
Bronze: Hanlons – Port Stout
Bitter
Gold: Pheasantry – Best Bitter
Silver: Acorn – Barnsley Bitter
Joint Bronze: Purple Moose – Madog’s Ale / Timothy Taylors – Boltmaker
Golden
Gold: Kelburn – Jaguar
Silver: Adnams – Explorer
Bronze: Blue Monkey – Infinity
Strong Bitter
Gold: Dark Star – Revelation
Silver: Salopian – Golden Thread
Bronze: Grain – India Pale Ale
Champion Bottle-Conditioned Beer
Gold: Harveys – Imperial Extra Double Stout
Silver: Fyne Ales – Superior IPA
Bronze: Mordue – India Pale Ale
These awards along with the champion Cider & Perry are presented at the awards lunch on 17th October at the Black Country Living Musuem where following a tour of the museum site a four course dinner will be served with each course expertly matched with an award winning beer. There will also be a guest speaker from the brewing and pub industry. Tickets are £75 each including the tour, food and drink.
The presentation night was made into ‘a bit of a do’ with a huge choice of great beers, buffet and entertainment. 