Category: Pub of the Month Winners

We first visited the Blake during the Sheffield Beer Census in June 2017 and were so impressed with it that we make a point of calling in whenever we are visiting friends in Walkley. Although we are neither local or regulars we are always made welcome.

Formerly part of the Stones brewery estate, the Blake is now owned by James Birkett, who also runs the Sheaf View and Wellington pubs, along with Neepsend Brewery. It’s a street corner pub with a central bar and three comfortable rooms, including one with a log burning stove for the cold nights. There’s also an outside sitting area for when it gets warmer.

On the bar you’ll find Neepsend Blonde plus 5 rotating guest ales, usually from small independent brewers. There’s also a good choice of international beers either on keg or in bottle and a scrumpy for cider lovers. On the shelves behind are over 180 different whiskies, plus a range of rums and gins. Pork pies are usually available as well as the usual snacks.

A major attraction of the Blake and the other pubs in this group is that they don’t have TVs or background music. You go there for the company and conversation. It’s surprising how many dog walkers find their way there too, and quiz lovers are welcome on a Wednesday.

It’s a great local – I wish it was nearer to where I live! You’ll find it open between 12 noon and 11.30pm seven days a week but it’s either uphill or downhill if you’re walking to this pub on Blake Street. A choice of either the 95 (Fulton Rd stop) or 31 buses will help get you there.

Malcolm Dixon

We will be presenting the Blake Hotel with their award on Tuesday 12 February, as usual arriving from around 8pm onwards for a presentation at 9pm. We hope you can join us!

Ever since I visited The Rat Race Ale House on the platform of Hartlepool Railway Station I have been enamoured with micropubs. I find that, by consequence of their size, people end up enjoying an evening with folks that they would never have encountered had the building afforded them the luxury of space to sit several tables apart. They therefore make for convivial places, and our November 2018 POTM winner is, as a micropub itself, no exception. The Autumn of 2016 saw long-time friends, Al and Charlie, open The Bar Stewards as a ‘pop-up pub’ in the already beer-dense area of Kelham Island. Temporary events licenses meant they could open on a limited number of weekends while they awaited the paperwork that would transform their enterprise into a permanent addition to the area’s public houses; a noble aim that was to become a reality in July 2017. The idea was always simple. Serve excellent beer and, in the words of Bill and Ted while on their trans-dimensional peregrinations, be excellent to each other. The popularity of this approach has seen a provision of four hand-pulls plus cider boxes expand to include six keg beer lines, and more recently, voluminous fridge space for on/off-sale cans and bottles. It is far from uncommon to see cask appearances made by the likes of Arbor, Tiny Rebel, Bristol Beer Factory, Great Heck, Abbeydale and North Riding, while keg beers are frequently seen from, inter alia, Verdant, Cloudwater, Northern Monk, Deya, Garage, Unity, Loka Polly, Magic Rock and Howling Hops. It is also clear that so much more lies in store for this successful micro. Indeed, just this summer saw the opening up of their outdoor space at the rear of the pub, an area which has been used to provide yet more sumptuous beers by setting up their mobile bar for special events. So here’s to another thoroughly deserving POTM winner. I have been an ardent supporter of this pub from day one and eagerly look forward to seeing The Bar Stewards continue to grow from strength to strength. Truly, these are fine years for a beer enthusiast to be alive. Patrick Johnson Join us at the Bar Stewards on Tuesday 13 November for the presentation of the award (and, of course, to enjoy a fine ale or two). We will be arriving from around 8pm onwards for a presentation at 9pm.

Our October 2018 Pub of the Month winner is one that will be very familiar to those who have followed this award over the last few years. The Harlequin on Nursery Street has now been voted Pub of the Month six times since 2007, with the most recent before this coming in May 2016. Run by landlady Liz Aspden and Exit 33 Brewing owner Pete Roberts, the Harlequin is a free house which acts as the tap pub for the brewery. The bar features up to 10 well-kept real ales with the regular beers (Blonde and Northern Best) provided by Exit 33. All the latest seasonal and one-off Exit 33 brews feature too, as well as quality rotating guest ales, generally from Yorkshire and the North East. There is also a range of craft keg and bottled beers including an international selection, mainly German and Belgian. A regular winner of our Cider Pub of the Year award, the Harlequin is considered one of the best pubs in Sheffield for apple fans. Landlady Liz’s passion for cider is clear for all to see with as many as 14 different boxed ciders available, plus more in bottle and on keg. Keep an eye out (it’s hard to miss!) for the cider board with the current choice including descriptions and tasting notes. A popular quiz (affectionately known as the Harlequiz, of course) is hosted on Wednesdays, while live music features on Friday and Saturdays with rock bands normally dominating the Saturday slot. The second Thursday of each month is jazz and swing night and all music nights are free to attend. The Harlequin is a short walk from the City Centre or Kelham Island, or there is a bus stop right outside the pub served by routes 3, 7 and 8. We will be presenting the award on Tuesday 9 October, arriving from around 8pm for a presentation at 9pm.

If it’s Abbeydale beer you’re after then the brewery’s second tap pub, the Devonshire Cat, is probably a good place to start. This city centre venue, first opened in 2001 and bought by the brewery back in 2013 following the retirement of the previous landlord, had been a long-term fixture in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide and has continued to be included every year since the change of ownership. Sheffield & District branch members clearly agree on its merits, having voted the Devonshire Cat our Pub of the Month for September 2018. The pub underwent a complete renovation a couple of years ago and the new-look pub features a central horseshoe-shaped bar with three distinct seating areas surrounding it. On the bar there are 12 handpumps, half of which serve Abbeydale’s own range of core and seasonal brews, while the other half feature interesting guest casks from local and national breweries. For those of a craftier persuasion, there is also an excellent range of keg beers from microbreweries near and far, as well as a selection of more than 100 bottles and cans. Tap takeovers are a regular occurrence at the Devonshire Cat, and recent breweries featured have included Scotland’s Fyne Ales, Leeds’ Ridgeside and London’s Brick Brewery. Of course, no article about the “Dev Cat” would be complete without mention of the excellent food menu on offer which is well worth a try, and they are happy to recommend beers to match the food. For music fans, the Honey Bee Blues Club takes place on the last Friday of every month and features the best of contemporary local blues music. Come and join us at the Devonshire Cat (49 Wellington Street, S1 4HG) for the Pub of the Month presentation on Tuesday 11 September, arriving from 8pm for a presentation at 9pm. Hope to see you there!

Our Pub of the Month award for August 2018, voted for as always by Sheffield & District CAMRA members, goes to the Beer Engine on Cemetery Road. The pub may only have opened in March 2015 but this is the second time it has been voted our branch’s Pub of the Month, having previously won the honour in August 2016. The man who created the Beer Engine in its current guise (it was formerly a music bar called Delaney’s, amongst other things) is Tom Harrington, who previously worked at Thornbridge and the Hillsborough Hotel. This was his first pub venture, although he is now also involved with the Old Workshop on Hicks Street too. The Beer Engine is in essence a traditional pub with a focus on serving high-quality real ales in a relaxing environment, but there is a modern twist in the form of ever-changing craft keg beers and an interesting range of spirits. The pub is furnished and decorated simply but is laid out to appeal to all – a main open area around the bar and a couple of smaller, cosier rooms. There’s a nice beer garden out the back which has been extremely popular during the recent hot weather. The bar features six handpumps, one of which dispenses the ever-available Neepsend Blonde. The remaining five feature a changing range of ales from breweries such as Exit 33, Bad Seed and North Riding, and sometimes a real cider. The staff are friendly and knowledgable and are happy to offer tasters and advice. No article about the Beer Engine would be complete without a mention of the pub’s food offerings. Monday to Saturday is pub tapas, with a selection of around 8 dishes on a menu which changes weekly. On a Sunday, the Beer Engine offers home-cooked roast dinners with a choice of meat of the week, vegetarian and vegan options. We will be presenting the award certificate at the Beer Engine on Tuesday 14 August. Join us from 8pm onwards for a presentation at 9pm. For those travelling by public transport, the 3/3a, 4/4a, 20, 43, 44, 75, 76, 86, 97, 98 and 218 all stop nearby. We hope to see you there!

If travelling by tram for a pub crawl in the Kelham Island area, first call will usually be the Wellington on the corner of Henry Street and Infirmary Road, which is almost adjacent to the Shalesmoor (for Kelham Island) tram stop. The pub was built around 1840 for A. H. Smith’s Don Brewery, which was nearby. Following the usual sequence of takeovers, from the 1960’s the Wellington was part of the Whitbread estate. As a result of the Beer Orders of the early nineties, Whitbread began to reduce their pub holdings, and the Wellington was sold ‘free of tie’ in 1992. For some 20 years it flourished as a free house, winning Sheffield CAMRA Pub of the Year 2001 as the Cask & Cutler, but suffering from a lack of investment it eventually became a bit tired. In 2016 it was acquired by James Birkett’s Sheaf Inns and after a much-needed yet sympathetic refurbishment it reopened on 19 October 2016. Niall Byrne moved from the Sheaf View to become the new manager, and the Wellington became the brewery tap for the Neepsend Brewery (formerly Little Ale Cart), which had also been taken over by James Birkett. As a result the pub’s eight handpumps usually dispense three or four Neepsend beers, always including Neepsend Blonde, and three or four guest beers mostly from small breweries, together with a changing real cider. Brewers often featured include Bad Seed, North Riding, Pictish and Saltaire, and there is a decent range of gins and malt whiskies available. Opening hours are 3-11pm in the week, 12-12 Friday and Saturday and 12-10.30 Sunday. Food is limited to the usual bar snacks together with pork pies. The pub still retains two separate rooms, one opened out into the corridor bar area, and several features survive from an inter war redevelopment, including some leaded windows. The walls throughout are decorated with an eclectic collection of breweriana, including mirrors and advertising placards. The rooms are comfortably furnished and welcoming, and with no TV, gaming machines or music, at weekends the Wellington is a welcome refuge from the noisier pubs in the area. All in all a well deserved winner of the Pub of the Month for July. As well as the tram, there is a nearby bus stop served by routes 57, 81, 82, 86 and 135. Alan Gibbons

On the 29^th July 1981 Dave Wickett and his then business partner bought a pub called the “Alma” from Stones and re-opened it as The Fat Cat on the 21^st August the same year. The intention from the outset was to provide an alternative to the pubs owned by the big breweries who dominated the city at that time. It introduced such rarities as Fullers, Boddingtons, Marstons, Theakstons and Timothy Taylor to the drinking public of Sheffield and has never looked back, continuing to provide a changing range of well-kept cask ales from the ever increasing range of British breweries, alongside its regular Kelham Island Brewery beers. Much is owed to Dave’s foresight in making Sheffield the real ale mecca it is today. The introduction of a no-smoking room and a vegetarian menu was rare in the early days and this traditional theme has been enhanced by having no electric gaming machines, background music nor televisions, instead the emphasis is on conversation and cask conditioned ale. Within a year of it opening it became Sheffield & District CAMRA’s Pub of the Year in 1982 and its popularity and charm continues to be recognised 36 years later. In the intervening years it has been named Pub of the Month and Pub of the Year on numerous occasions and has also picked up awards from the Morning Advertiser, the Good Pub Guide, The Times weekend supplement and The Daily Telegraph and has featured regularly in CAMRA’s National Good Beer Guide. The building was also given listed status in 2000. Much of its continuing and successful longevity is down to three members of staff who have been in attendance since the very early days of Dave’s tenure, namely Diane, Alison and the late Stephen Fearn. Following Dave’s death, his son Ed took over and the change was seamless, just as it was when Duncan Shaw took over as licensee in 2008.  Much thanks is due to all of these and to all the staff who have worked there over the years, for maintaining the standards and principals of this pioneering pub since 1981. Please join us on Tuesday 12 June as we present the Fat Cat with their latest award. We will be arriving around 8pm for a presentation about an hour later. Andy Morton

We might have just announced all our annual winners but that doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten about our Pub of the Month competition. This month’s winner, voted for as always by Sheffield & District CAMRA branch members, is a pub that has been a permanent fixture on London Road since the 1780s: the White Lion. The pub last won this award in October 2016 and since then the standards have remained exceptionally high, making them worthy winners yet again. This historic hostelry has a rich past, but current landlords Jon Terry and Mandy Billings have brought the pub into the 21^st century while remaining respectful of its history. In December 2017, they were named the best landlords in the Yorkshire and the Humber region by Punch Taverns, while in 2015 the White Lion was declared the best live music pub in the county. The building itself is Grade II listed and is included on CAMRA’s Yorkshire Regional Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors, recognising its sympathetic refurbishments over the years. The entrance corridor was recently the cover star of the hugely popular Sheffield’s Real Heritage Pubs e-book. Meanwhile, the pub’s position as a community hub was confirmed in November 2016 when it attained Asset of Community Value status. On the beer front, there are four regular cask ales on offer, with a mixture of local and national breweries featured. Abbeydale Moonshine is always available, while the house beer, Lion’s Main, is brewed by Kelham Island. Wychwood Hobgoblin and Tetley Bitter are also regulars on the pumps. Additionally, there are up to eight changing guest beers which often include an interesting range of styles such as stouts and IPAs. We will be presenting the award to the White Lion on Tuesday 8 May, arriving from 8pm onwards for a presentation around 9pm. The pub is located at 615 London Road, S2 4HT, and is well-served by buses (routes 10, 20, 24, 25, 43, 44, X17 all stop nearby). We hope you can join us! Dominic Nelson

Regular readers will know that each month we try to recognise one pub in our branch area that follows CAMRA’s principles of serving high quality real ale and cider in welcoming and friendly surroundings. Every Pub of the Month is voted for by our branch members, and with voting having been so popular recently we have had a backlog of pubs waiting to receive their awards. Therefore, we have known for a couple of months now that our Pub of the Month winner for April 2018 would be a first-time winner of the accolade. The Ale House, tucked away on Fraser Road in between Millhouses and Woodseats, is a thriving community-run pub with a consistenly good range of reasonably priced real ale. There are up to six cask lines on offer at any time, the regular Saltaire Blonde plus five guest ales. These often feature small breweries from around Yorkshire and the East Midlands, such as Malton’s Bad Seed and Derby’s Dancing Duck. Being a community pub there are regular events taking place, including live music and singing nights, a pub quiz on Thursday evenings and home-cooked food available from 6pm every Friday. We will be visiting the Ale House to present the award on Tuesday 10 April and all are welcome to join us. As usual, we will be arriving from around 8pm for a presentation around 9pm. For those travelling by public transport, the number 86 stops on Archer Road, around 150 yards from the pub. We hope to see you there! Dominic Nelson

This month’s Pub of the Month winner, as voted for by our members, is a pub well-known around the Sheffield real ale scene. The Rutland Arms on Brown Street is a city-centre haven for beer drinkers, with seven cask ales on offer (including regulars from local brewery Blue Bee), plus up to two real ciders, seven craft keg lines and a range of lagers. To top it all off, there’s also a legendary food menu. The Rutland is a small, traditional pub with the tiled exterior and windows (most of them) saved from its days as a multi-room Gilmour’s pub. There is also a comfortable, heated beer garden out the back. Despite the classic characteristics, the atmosphere is helped by a changing exhibition of art on the walls and a jukebox with a list of banned songs to be ignored at your peril! There’s a fairly young, fun and friendly team behind the bar, and a great team in the kitchen too. Food is served until 9pm every day except Sunday, when the kitchen closes at 6pm. The pub hosts regular events, such as tap takeovers and Christmas parties, and has a very active social media presence to keep its punters up-to-date on the latest goings-on. We’ll be presenting the Pub of the Month winner’s certificate to the Rutland team on the evening of Tuesday 13 March. Everyone is welcome to join us on the night; we’ll be arriving from around 8ish for a presentation at about 9pm.