Category: News

As part of Sheffield Beer Week 2019, our branch’s Pub Heritage Officer will be leading a walk around Kelham Island and Neepsend on Tuesday 12 March. The tour starts at 2pm at the Millowners Arms at the Kelham Island Industrial Museum, a gallery celebrating Sheffield’s brewing heritage, complete with its own traditional bar. After a short talk, the event will follow a 1.2 mile route passing the oldest working brewery in Sheffield, a myriad of industrial sites, more breweries and a number of pubs before finishing at the Gardeners Rest, close to the now derelict Cannon Brewery.

A limited number of copies of the Sheffield’s Real Heritage Pubs will be available at a reduced price of £5.00. The book is also available as a free download:  sheffield.camra.org.uk/rhp.

Places should be booked in advance. Full details, including booking information, are available at: tinyurl.com/yc3djsuo.

Dave Pickersgill

Saturday 30 March will see the return of the Sheffield Beer Census after a break in 2018.

For those who haven’t taken part in the census before, Sheffield & District CAMRA organises this city-wide survey to try and get an idea of the full range of real ales and ciders available around the Steel City on a particular day. Volunteers take an area of the city each and visit as many pubs as possible, noting the name, brewery, ABV and price of every real ale available in each one.

Other cities such as Derby, Manchester and Norwich also undertake similar surveys as we compete for the coveted title of Beer Capital of the UK.

At the February branch meeting we are hoping to recruit volunteers to lead each route. If this is something you might be interested in, please come along for more information. Those wanting to lead routes in suburbs we don’t often get to, particularly in the north and east of the city, are especially welcome. The meeting will take place at the Old Queens Head, Pond Hill on Tuesday 5 February (8pm start).

Look out in next month’s Beer Matters for full details of all routes and route leaders.

A new update sheet has been released for the Yorkshire’s Real Heritage Pubs book (originally published in 2015) and it is good news for Sheffield’s historic pubs with no fewer than 13 pubs from our branch area being added to the listings.

Among them are some of Sheffield’s best known real ale pubs, including the Fat Cat and the Wellington, both of which won Pub of the Month awards in 2018. A special mention goes to the Sportsman in Hackenthorpe, which has been upgraded to National Inventory status as one of the county’s finest examples of a little-altered 1950s pub.

The full update sheet can be downloaded here, while the book itself can be purchased from the CAMRA online bookshop (£4.99 + P&P).

Apart from reserved copies for 2019 Pub Heritage walks and a small number of selected 2019 CAMRA Beer Festivals, we have no paper copies left – the book, all 1250 copies, is now effectively a sell-out. Thanks again to all who have purchased a copy.

There may be a few copies available at some of the retail outlets. Grateful thanks to: All Good Stuff, the Bath Hotel, Beer Central, Biblioteka, Bradfield Brewery Shop, Church House, the Dog and Partridge, the Fat Cat, the Friendship (Stocksbridge), Hillsborough Hotel, Hop Hideout, Kelham Island Book and Music Shop, Kelham Island Industrial Museum, Made In Sheffield, Maison du Biere (Elsecar), the Millennium Galleries, Rhyme & Reason, the Rising Sun (Nether Green),  the Rutland Arms, Sheffield Scene and the White Lion. Copies may also be available online from Abbeydale Brewery, BeerInnPrint and CAMRA books.

We would again like to thank our three sponsors, Abbeydale Brewery, the Rutland Arms and the White Lion. The aim is to produce an updated online third edition for the 2019 Sheffield Beer Festival and a second paper copy in March 2021 ready for the subsequent CAMRA Members’ Weekend. The free download is available at: https://sheffield.camra.org.uk/rhp/.

As part of both Sheffield Beer Week in March 2019 and Sheffield Heritage Open Days in September, Sheffield Pub Heritage walks will take place. Places may be booked, via Eventbrite:

• Sheffield Beer Week, Friday 15^th March, 17:30: https://tinyurl.com/yaqlhqad
• Heritage Open Days, Friday 20^th Septmber, 14:30: https://tinyurl.com/yb56htxt
• Heritage Open Days, Friday 20^thSeptember, 17:30: https://tinyurl.com/y8jawlu9

In addition, I was (unexpectedly) shortlisted for the ‘Citizen Communicator Award’ as part of the 2018 British Guild of Beer Writers Awards. I didn’t win, but it was good to see Sheffield up there.

Thanks again for your support,

Dave Pickersgill (Pub Heritage Officer)

Voting is now open for our entries into the Good Beer Guide 2020. As in recent years, we are hoping to nominate 30 pubs within the Sheffield city boundaries and a further 6 from the Derbyshire part of the branch.

All Sheffield & District CAMRA members are able to take part in voting by selecting the allowed number of pubs on the form below.

Forms must be received by 31 December 2018 to allow the selection committee time to visit the nominated pubs to confirm they are eligible.

Sorry, voting has closed.

Two pubs in our branch region are celebrating reaching significant milestones in terms of consecutive years included in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide. The annual book aims to guide drinkers to those pubs serving the finest beer available, and the Fat Cat on Alma Street and the Commercial in Chapeltown have now been included for the last 30 and 20 years respectively. The Fat Cat is well-known to real ale drinkers from Sheffield and afar, and was the first pub in the city to introduce cask beers from different parts of the country. This was back in the early 1980s, when real ale was still very much a very affair. Under the stewardship of the late Dave Wickett, followed by his son Ed, the pub has gone from strength to strength, showcasing beers from the Kelham Island Brewery next door, along with a carefully curated selection of guest ales. The presentation of their 30-year award will be made following the branch meeting there on 8 January (meeting begins at 8pm). Meanwhile, the Commercial is a well-established free house, long thought of as one of the best pubs in north Sheffield. Under licensee Paul Menzies, it has now appeared in every edition of the Good Beer Guide since 1999. There are six real ales on offer at the Commie – Abbeydale Moonshine is always available, alongside five local and regional guest beers, one of which is usually a porter or stout. Real cider is also available. We hope to arrange the presentation of their award early in the New Year; more details will be announced once the arrangements have been finalised. Congratulations to both pubs, and we wish them continued success! The process for selecting our entrants for the Good Beer Guide 2020 should begin in the next few weeks, so keep an eye on our website and social media or come along to a branch meeting to find out more.

Registration is now open for the CAMRA Members’ Weekend and AGM 2019, which takes place from Friday 5 to Sunday 7 April at the Caird Hall in Dundee. Returning to Scotland after several years away, the weekend is already proving popular, with more than 750 members already registered. As a general idea of what to expect over the weekend, the Friday evening is when registration begins and the Members’ Bar opens. After a presentation for first time attendees, there will be a number of beer-themed trips available around the Dundee area from about 6pm onwards. The real business begins on Saturday morning with the AGM, followed by various activities in the afternoon and more trips in the evening as well as the Members’ Bar. On Sunday morning there will be a conference until 12:30pm, and then it’s time to head back to the bar to drink it dry! Train is the only real public transport option from Sheffield – an off-peak one-month return ticket costs £131.70 (£86.95 with a railcard). Closer to the time, cheaper advance tickets may also become available if booked online. The journey takes around 5 hours in each direction, with a change at either York or Edinburgh. More details on the Members’ Weekend can be found online at agm.camra.org.uk.

The Sheffield’s Real Heritage Pubs book has been receiving excellent feedback since its release during the 2017 Steel City Beer & Cider Festival, and the positivity has continued with the announcement that editor, our very own Dave Pickersgill, has been shortlisted for the Best Citizen Beer Communicator Award at the British Guild of Beer Writers’ Annual Awards 2018. Reviews of the book have been very positive; Beer Imbiber said it was “well-worth going to the trouble of getting the printed version: kudos to all involved.” Roger Protz described it as a “superb book“, while What’s Brewing wrote: “Welded from love, knowledge and respect for Steel City, it’s no surprise that the first edition of this book has placed its editor Dave Pickersgill on the shortlist of the British Guild of Beer Writers’ 2018 award for Best Citizen Beer Communicator.” The nomination is for the e-book version released last year, which has been downloaded more than 96,000 times to date. There was also, of course, a physical version of the book brought out in October this year with an initial print run of 1,000 copies, and there is set to be a second batch of 250 copies printed in time for Christmas. The British Guild of Beer Writers was founded in 1988 and currently has more than 350 members. Formed to “improve the standards of beer writing and improve the public knowledge of beer and pubs,” members include big names such as Roger Protz, Ray Bailey and Pete Brown. Dave is up against four other writers and editors in his category. The award ceremony takes place in London on Thursday 22 November, so by the time this magazine hits the pubs we will know the winner – keep an eye on our website and social media for further announcements. Congratulations and good luck to Dave! Dominic Nelson

Across the country, October is traditionally a month when apples and pears are harvested and the production of cider and perry can begin. Since 2003, CAMRA has dedicated October to promoting the availability real cider and perry in our pubs, clubs and festivals. Luckily for us here in Sheffield, cider month coincides with our Steel City Beer & Cider Festival. Last year’s festival featured almost 50 different ciders and perries, with more than 2,300 pints of the stuff being consumed over the four days. This year’s festival promises more of the same for fruit lovers, so why not head down to the Kelham Island Museum to try some?

There are also a number of pubs around the city who make a real effort to serve quality cider and perry throughout the year. Our 2018 Cider Pub of the Month is the Clubhouse on London Road, which offers three hand-pulled ciders, often including fruit-flavoured cider from the Lilley’s range. Meanwhile, the Harlequin on Nursery Street serves more than 20 ciders, mainly on gravity, with a handy blackboard showing the latest offerings along with some tasting notes, so whether you prefer your cider dry, sweet, or somewhere in between, there’s something for everyone. Around the Kelham Island area, the Fat Cat often features hand-pulled cider, the Kelham Island Tavern serves Weston’s cider and perry, and Shakespeares offers three changing ciders on gravity. Wetherspoon pubs throughout Sheffield are also a good bet for boxed cider, and sometimes have cider festivals on during the year.

While there are no cider producers in our branch area, nearby Dronfield has two: Woodthorpe Hall Cider and the Drone Valley Brewery. For cider lovers heading out that way, real ciders are often available at the Travellers Rest at Apperknowle and the Miners Arms at Hundall. So if you’re out and about in October and spot real cider or perry on the bar, give it a go! Dominic Nelson