Category: Heritage

Carbrook Hall was purchased by a local company, West Street Leisure, from Punch Taverns in March 2017. Since then, it has been closed to the public. The pub became an Asset of Community Value (ACV) in May 2017 following a collaborative application from Sheaf Valley Heritage Group and Sheffield and District CAMRA. The last year has seen both a number of arson attempts and local press reports regarding the sale of contents from the building. In addition, all external signage (apart from the Lower Don Valley History Trails blue plaque) has been removed.

Regarding the attempted sale of artefacts, the current owner, Sean Fogg, is on record as stating: “If anyone has got any items from the pub they’ve got it without our consent“. He is also quoted as stating that there was a “misunderstanding” between him and the man advertising the goods, who had been employed to clear fire-damaged material. This historic public house with its connections with the Bright family and the siege of Sheffield Castle includes the Grade II* listed stone wing that was added about 1620. The ‘Old Oak Room’ is an oak-panelled ground floor room with vine trail plaster frieze and enriched cross beam ceiling, also with vine trail. There is also an elaborate early oak chimney-piece with Corinthian columns and allegorical figures and Latin inscription on the over mantel. The motif represents ‘Wisdom trampling upon Ignorance’.

It also has framed panelling with painted decoration and a larger stone chimney-piece with corniced mantelshelf and over mantel flanked by unusual caryatids. There is also a door with shaped fielded panels, and three late C18th. panelled doors. This description is based on visits in 2016 and early 2017. We hope that this room remains intact. We also understand that planning/listed building applications to alter and change the use of the building are likely to be submitted in the near future. The long-term survival of Carbrook Hall requires a functioning business operating on the premises. This could be a pub, or it could have another use.

However, the current situation is simply one of neglect – a Grade II* listed building with ACV status slowly rotting – this an embarrassment for the city. Dave Pickersgill

William Stones started brewing in 1847. In 1868 he purchased the lease of the Neepsend Brewery, renamed it the Cannon Brewery, and continued to brew there until his death in 1894. Stones’ success saw him die as one of the richest men in Sheffield. William Stones Ltd. was purchased by Bass Brewery in 1968.

Stones Bitter was brewed at the Cannon Brewery from 1948. It was originally available across South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, with distribution extended to the rest of the north of England in 1977, and nationwide from 1979, accompanied by a considerable marketing push.

Popularity reached a peak in 1992 when it was the highest-selling bitter in the country. Following the brewery’s closure in 1999, Stones Bitter has continued to be produced at various sites by the Molson Coors Brewing Company.

Since 1999, the brewery site has become derelict. Although planning permission exists for demolition, we await redevelopments. The image above, dating from the 1980s, is of particular interest. It belongs to Duncan Shaw, manager of the Fat Cat, and appears to show a car suspended in mid-air – we would be grateful if anyone can provide more information about this photo. Dave Pickersgill

< Note: April 2020: when this message was originally posted in  2018, it was possible to download the NE PHG from the National Pub Heritage Website. However, in August 2018, this website went down and was subsequently replaced by the new one – https://pubheritage.camra.org.uk/ – the new site has more functionality than the previous site, but unfortunately, the provision for Regional Guides is not yet in place. Hence, at present it is not possible to download Regional PH Guides. > This publication, the CAMRA guide about Heritage Pubs in the North East of England, is now available as a free download. Edited by Paul Ainsworth, this ground-breaking publication aims to create an up-to-date snapshot of the North East Pub Heritage picture. For example, the Stags Head in South Shields, a Victorian pub of 1897, has an unusual feature of a two-storey arrangement of two bars one above the other – clearly a response to the narrow site. On the ground floor the entrance lobby on the left has floor to ceiling tiling and the inner door has stained glass. In the two-part public bar, the counter and bar-back are original, as is the fire-surround although the hearth and tiles seem modern; above is a stag’s head. The wide elliptical arch spanning the servery is also most unusual. Included are 40 images and detailed comment on the 44 North East pubs listed on the CAMRA Pub Heritage website. The guide is freely available from the CAMRA Pub Heritage website: pubheritage.camra.org.uk/rhp/NorthEast. Dave Pickersgill

From the outside, the Eyre Arms is a handsome creeper-covered building with a walled garden to the side. You enter this 17th-century country pub via a front door which leads to a small entrance hall. On your left is a smoke room with a quarter-circle wooden bar: wooden tongue and groove of high quality. Behind the bar are fitted shelves. This small room has fitted wooden benches around two walls and a fire place which looks pre-war. A door on the rear wall leads to the cellar (to the left), the gents and, to the right, is a small snug. From the entrance, on your right is a rectangular lounge which leads back into what was originally a sitting room. The central bar is opposite a massive coat of arms displayed on the wall above the fireplace. A wooden door leads left into the small snug, with views to the rear of the building. A further door leads to a corridor, the gents and the public bar. On the wall, a framed list of past licences goes back to 1753. The entrance form the hall to the lounge displays a fixed sign above the original words of ‘Smoke Room.’ A 1952 plan (Gerald Maynard & Co. D5328/21/3(i), Derbyshire Record Office, Matlock) shows the front entrance into a hall. On the left is a Tap Room (now the smoke room), while to the right are steps (up) and a Smoke Room. Ahead is a passage which runs the length of the two forward rooms with a bar counter ahead. The cellar is to the left of the bar, with a sitting room to the right. Further right are a Larder and Living Room. The current layout and the 1952 plan suggest a mid-1950s refit which merged the two right rooms into a single lounge with the bar moving forward to its current central position and the snug taking the place of the bar counter and bar area. We believe there have been no major changes since the mid-1950s. Apparently local craftsmen were used to do the work: stonemason for the fireplaces and carpenter for the bar front and wood panelling. Relatives of these craftsmen are still pub regulars. The pub sign shows the Eyre family coat of arms. The arms on the wall of the lounge belong to Rowland Eyre, a Royalist officer in the Civil War. The Eyres raised a regiment in Derbyshire and fought at the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644. The centrepiece is a solitary leg. Apparently, at the Battle of Hastings (1066), William the Conqueror was knocked from his horse. He was assisted by a soldier called Truelove who loosened the Kings’ helmet as his nose-plate was crushing his face. William then said “thou hast given me the air that I breathe – henceforth you will be known as Air (Eyr)”. Later in the battle, the King discovered that Truelove (Eyr) had to have a leg amputated. William told him that when he was recovered, he would give him some land. The soldier replied, ‘I shall call it Hope, for you have given me hope to live.’ There are two problems with this story: the Norman soldiers did not wear helmets of this type, and Truelove was an Anglo-Saxon name, not Norman. The building was originally a farmstead, built in 1632. By 1753, ‘Eyre Arms as a Public House at Hassop.’ In 1814, the name changed to ‘Newburg Arms Inn’ and in 1902, it returned to the Eyre Arms. The pub has recently been proposed as a new entry on the CAMRA National Inventory of Pub Interiors. Dave Pickersgill

Many of our readers will by now have seen the Sheffield’s Real Heritage Pubs e-book, which was released during the Steel City Beer and Cider Festival last October and at the time of writing, is on the cusp of reaching 50,000 downloads! Talks with local sponsors and publishers regarding a physical copy of the book are still ongoing. Following on from the success of this book, the next instalment in the series of Real Heritage Pubs books has been released. East Anglia’s Real Heritage Pubs: Pub Interiors of Historic Interest is now available as a free download at pubheritage.camra.org.uk/rhp/EastAnglia. < Note: April 2020 :  when this message was originally posted in March 2018, it was possible to download the EA PHG from the National Pub Heritage Website. However, in August 2018, this website went down and was subsequently replaced by the new one – https://pubheritage.camra.org.uk/ – the new site has more functionality than the previous site, but unfortunately, the provision for Regional Guides is not yet in place. Hence, at present it is not possible to download Regional PH Guides. >  Edited by Paul Ainsworth, chair of the CAMRA National Pub Heritage Group, this ground-breaking publication aims to create an up-to-date snapshot of the East Anglian Pub Heritage picture. Paul said: “Over the past 25 years, CAMRA has developed its national and regional inventories of historic pub interiors. These highlight the crème de la crème of interiors which have either escaped much alteration for many years or contain features of exceptional interest. ” For example, the Cock in Broom is one of only ten remaining examples in the country of pubs with no bar counter. Included are over 60 images and detailed comment on the 120 East Anglian pubs listed on the CAMRA Pub Heritage website. The guide is freely available from the CAMRA Pub Heritage website. Grateful thanks are given to numerous individuals, the National CAMRA Pub Heritage Group and local Archives, the latter for providing access to unique historic documentation.

It’s great to see that Chris and Debbie Askew, the new mangers of the Silver Fox in Stocksbridge, have brought the upstairs dining room back into use. This room still has the original 1963 bar, alcove seats, oak panelling and associated woodwork. In addition, the upstairs kitchen has a functioning set of in-out doors. For a number of years, the room was used as a rubbish depository. The photos show the situation last summer and the newly refurbished room.

The Silver Fox is featured in Sheffield’s Real Heritage Pubs (www.sheffieldcamra.org.uk/rhp) – the book continues to surprise us by the number of downloads, which is now past 37,000. Work is currently happening regarding updates and new entries. In central Sheffield, the Royal Victoria Hotel is proving an interesting challenge. The bar is open to the public and the building was opened over 150 years ago. Initial research indicates minimal change to the internal lay-out. The image is of proposed changes from 1952.

As part of the forthcoming Sheffield Beer Week, we will be running a guided Pub Heritage walk encompassing a number of entries in the book. This will take place on Tuesday 13 March (17:30 start) – please book your place at https://tinyurl.com/yder3a6e. Dave Pickersgill

The Sheffield & Hallamshire Savings Bank was founded in 1819. In 1860, the Bank moved to this building, designed by the architect T.J. Flockton. Early in the 20^th century, the bank engaged in some small-scale expansion by opening several branches. It was not until after the Second World War that significant growth occurred as 15 new branches were established. The Trustee Savings Bank (TSB) Act of 1976 led to the restructuring of the savings banks the following year. As a result, Sheffield & Hallamshire became part of TSB of Yorkshire & Lincoln. The TSB Group PLC was established in 1986, Lloyds TSB following in 1995.

The building itself was Grade II listed in 1972 as an example of the Classical Revival style. According to Historic England, the building has:

• ashlar with hipped slate roof with two stone side wallstacks with dentilled cornices
• plinth, dentilled first floor cornice, modillion eaves cornice, balustrades
• central two-storey cubic block: three windows flanked by single-storey wings, single windows. The central block has three moulded round-headed margin glazed windows with mask keystones, and a balustrade with dies topped with urns
• ground floor bays designed by engaged Corinthian columns, with paired columns at the ends, and three C20th single pane windows with enriched triple keystones with masks
• across the front, a balustrade
• square wings with paired round and square Corinthian columns forming porticos with C20th glazed doors and overlights, in openings with enriched triple keystones.

An extensive refurbishment of the building was undertaken in 1974, but the façade was kept intact. The dentilled cross beam ceiling interior was also retained. This is evidenced from the above 1965 photograph in which the ceiling can be compared to the current day. By the late 1990s, the venue had become known as The Fraternity House. It then evolved into the Old Monk at the Fraternity House, before becoming simply The Old Monk. Camerons Brewery acquired the building in December 2015 and in April 2016, it opened as their eighth Head of Steam branded venue. Dave Pickersgill

Built in 1821 as a multi-roomed coaching inn, Shakespeare’s has undergone various changes. For many years an S.H. Ward’s pub, the well-known live music venue was closed by Punch Taverns in early 2010. It re-opened 18 months later, with the original passageway to the yard creatively turned into another room. At the same time, the above-bar panelling was added and the long-established bar moved slightly forward. The terrazzo flooring which flows from the entrance lobby indicates the original floor plan. There is a leaded ‘Ward’s Fine Malt Ales’ window and a distinctive exterior sign with the same wording. In earlier days, the pub name was over the door, in a similar style (see 1982 photo). A 1946 plan (Hadfield Cawkwell, Sheffield) indicates that the rear room was split into two, the right-hand ‘Parlour’ having a separate door (opposite the bar). ‘Service’ and ‘Tap Room’ (front left) are both in their current positions. This plan has 1980 amendments which indicate the position of gaming machines. A 1962 plan (Hadfield, Cawkwell & Davidson, Rotherham for Messrs. S.H. Ward & Co.Ltd.) shows a new counter for the bar and the removal of a screen into the rear left Public Bar. A December 1981 plan (Sackville Design Co.) shows the rear rooms changing into a single ‘Lounge’ and the conversion of a kitchen and wash room into a smaller ‘catering kitchen’ and internal toilets. This is repeated on a 1984 plan (Jenkinson Palmer & Associated, Rotherham). Dave Pickersgill and Mick Slaughter

The Blue Ball (Haggstones Road, Worrall, S35 0PD) is believed to have been originally three cottages which were connected at some time to make bigger premises. There is no documented date of origin although it was registered as a public house in the Sheffield Directory in 1825. At one time it was a coaching inn with stabling. The name changed from ‘The Ball’ in 1854. There is a central bar with three rooms off. A 1930’s refitting has left bench seating in all rooms  and  ‘Tennants’ windows. The Smoke Room pre-dates this refitting with quality 1930s (or possibly older) seating and some parquet flooring. The Public Bar (left) has an inter-war graced counter to bar and 1960s timbering. There are also a considerable number of Tennants windows remaining. Dave Pickersgill & Mick Slaughter