Category: Pub of the Year Winners

The Chantry Inn (400 Handsworth Road, S13 9BZ) has been voted as Sheffield and District CAMRA East Area Pub of the Year for 2023 and third overall in the city wide competition.

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 comprises 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 1800’s.

Chantry Brewery acquired the pub in early 2019 and undertook a tasteful restoration and deliver real quality beers. There are always 5 cask ales on tap from Chantry brewery with a rotating special including Steelos, Kaldos, Full Moon alongside the regulars of New York pale, Iron and Steel bitter, Special Reserve and Diamond Stout. There are also changing keg beers available often from Tiny Rebel or Beavertown as well as real cider and Chantry brewery’s own Helles lager. 

Their recent special Parkgate 200 has been on the members bar at the Houses of Parliament in London ensuring our elected leaders get to taste the excellent Chantry Ales.

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 Tuesday 30th May from around 8pm onwards and all are welcome to join the celebration.  

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.

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.

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.

Congratulations to the Kelham Island Tavern on been voted as the Sheffield (Kelham Island) Pub of the Year 2022. Constructed in the 1830s as part of a terrace, and originally operating as the Sawmaker, the pub was later renamed the White Hart, and in 1995 became the Kelham Island Tavern, before closing in 1999.

Local CAMRA guides from this period describe the pub as:

• ‘Typical back street pub serving local factories at lunch times, quiet in the evenings’ (1979).
• ‘A three roomed unspoilt local, situated amongst the factories’ (1981).
• ‘Tiny three roomed pub. Rosettes and trophies adorn the bar.’ (1985).
• ‘Small open plan pub. Recently modernised from three small rooms’ (1996).

In March 2002, the derelict building was purchased and re-opened, specialising in real ale. By the following year, the local press had noted it as one of five pubs in the area among the ‘best real ale pubs in Yorkshire.’

In 2003, the Sheffield CAMRA guide described the pub as: ‘The newest free house to join the Upper Don Valley Ale Trail offering eight real ales of which seven are constantly changing. Opened in March 2002 after being closed for three years. A single room with a wood panelled bar, and a friendly welcome awaits you here. The scheduled garden to the rear is being developed.’

Over the last twenty years, the pub has continued to evolve from this promising start. Since 2019, under the new management of Josh and Louise, it has continued to offer a wide range of both cask (13) and craft beers: the beer garden is outstanding and the pub maintains the standards to which others aspire. The beer range is consistently excellent, always including at least one beer from Blue Bee. A simple bar snack menu is available including pork pies and samosas (while stocks last!).

The Kelham Island Tavern is the only pub to be CAMRA National Pub of the Year two years running (2008/9). It has been CAMRA Yorkshire Pub of the Year five times and Sheffield & District Pub of the Year on 15 occasions: a record which is unlikely to be overtaken.

Our presentation will occur on Tuesday 9 August: meeting from 8pm, presentation at 9pm.

Dave Pickersgill

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.

The Sheffield Tap is our 2022 Sheffield City Centre Pub of the Year. Winners in 2020, the Tap has won this award on successive occasions (there were no awards in 2021).

The story of the Tap is well known (see March 2022 Beer Matters). Suffice to say that this multiple award-winning pub, re-opened in 2009, has become both an integral part of the nationwide beer-tourism network while providing an ever-changing range of beers, including those brewed on-site.

The space is adorned with Minton tiled walls and fine ornamented bar fittings. In the 1960s, the space lost its original use and by the 1970s was a waiting room. Thirty four years after closure, a £180,000 comprehensive overhaul saw the tiling, terrazzo floor and woodwork, including parts of the bar fittings, beautifully restored.

The later key development was when the Tap expanded into the former First Class Dining Room. The tiled and mirrored interior was restored and in January 2013, Tapped Brew Co., began brewing on-site. Two years ago, Ben Tysoe, took on the Head Brewer role.

Congratulations to the Tap for this award: long may they continue to provide a warm welcome to Sheffield while simultaneously causing many customers to decide to wait for ‘their next train.’

Our overall Sheffield Pub of the Year, chosen by the judges from the area winners voted for by our members, is the Kelham Island Tavern. The pub was rescued from dereliction in 2002 and firmly established as a popular real ale pub with the back room added as an extension to cope! The Kelham has two rooms and impressive little beer garden at the rear whilst the bar offers up to 12 well kept cask beers with an effort made to ensure variety of styles, all at fair prices. A simple food menu is served at lunchtime every day except Sunday. Josh and Louise took over the pub two years ago and has not only maintained the established standards but made some subtle improvements too! Congratulations to both on the award! PUB REOPENING With the easing of the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, the Kelham Island Tavern will reopen on Saturday 4th July with limited capacity in the pub and beer garden. New reduced opening hours will operate – 2pm to 8pm for seated customers, with takeaway drinks available 3pm-7pm. Check their Facebook page for more information.  

Our District Pub of the Year is awarded to the Anglers Rest in Bamford. The Anglers Rest was under threat a few years ago when the pub company that owned it decided to sell and there was a proposal to convert it into residential use, leaving the village with no pub and little other facilities.  However thanks to it being listed as an asset of community value, locals were able to get together to form a community enterprise to buy and operate the pub, which is also now home to the village post office and coffee shop, keeping those facilities for this rural community. The pub itself is comfortable and friendly, offers a selection of real ales including some from local breweries and serves meals and also hosts various events. PUB REOPENING During lockdown the Post Office remains open and the pub/cafe is operating as a takeaway and shop. The pub will be reopening to enjoy food and drink on the premised from Monday 6th July with reduced hours and Covid-19 secure service. Check their Facebook page for latest news and details of this.