Category: Inn Brief

A new micropub has opened in Woodhouse Mill, at the bottom of Furnace Lane. The Oxbow offers a range of beers on both cask and keg. The former Rising Sun near Bamford, in the Hope Valley, which has sat closed and derelict for a few years now, has had the go ahead from Peak Park Planning Board to be redeveloped with a new hotel on the site. It is to be run by an independent operator aimed at visitors to the Peak District. The Bankers Draft (JD Wetherspoons) at Castle Square in the City Centre is hosting a Little Critters meet the brewer event on Tuesday 11th February at 7pm. The Cavendish on West Street, Sheffield, reopens following refurbishment on Saturday 25th January. A new restaurant specialising in vegetarian and vegan dishes has opened in Kelham Island in an old works on Cornish Street. Named V or V, the bar also has real ale and other craft beers for diners to enjoy – all unfined and vegan of course! The Dorothy Pax at Victoria Quay has had a bar refit and now boasts an increased number of beer lines! The Fulwood Ale Club, a micropub by the same people as the Ecclesall Ale Club, is now open on Brooklands Avenue. Sheffield Brewery Company‘s tap room is now opening to the public most weekends to serve their beer to drink in the brewery! Check their social media for opening hours. Also one that has opened since we published our guide to the Kelham Island area is Saw Grinders Union in Globe Works at Shalesmoor. This smart bar has 2 cask ales and a variety of other craft beers available along with cocktails and food. On Abbeydale Road, the Two Thirds Beer Company is now open. This bar in the unit previously occupied by Steel City Cakes, near the Broadfield, boasts 16 beer lines with a mix of cask beers on handpump and other craft beers on keg taps. On 30th January Shakespeare’s are serving a range of American Sours, the Joiners Arms in Bakewell are hosting a Thornbridge tap takeover & meet the brewer and the Kelham Island Tavern is hosting a ticket only Tryanuary tutored beer tasting. The Devonshire Cat are hosting a charity fundraising dinner for Cavendish Cancer Care on 6th February. In return for a generous donation you will enjoy a 3 course dinner and a gin & tonic. Of course it being the bar it is there will also be an excellent choice of ales on the bar to buy too! Advance table bookings are required for this event. The Jolly Farmer at Dronfield Woodhouse sees managers Karl and Ash celebrating 15 years at the helm this month and they will be celebrating at the pub on 8th February from 7:30pm. Expect live entertainment, food and beer to feature! Tiny Rebel have brewed a range of special beers to celebrate their 8th birthday and these will be available as part of a tap takeover at the Chesterfield Alehouse micropub on 13th February. A recent opening is the Parrot Club at Neepsend, owned by the same people as O’Hara’s Spiced Rum. There isn’t any cask beer, however a range of 3 craft beers from Triple Point is available on keg taps. Opening late January is Matilda Bar, an underground speakeasy style joint under the Sidney Warehouse gallery space. Access is via a door on the corner of Sidney Street and Matilda Street. A membership scheme will operate however anyone can sign in at the door. This is in addition to the existing bar in the gallery. Local craft beers will be available on keg tap. Just to add some confusion however, there is also rumour of the old Matilda Tavern pub that has sat boarded up for quite a few years reopening very soon! Toolmakers Brewery (on Botsford Street, which is behind their Forest pub on Rutland Road, just up the hill from Cutlery Works and the Gardeners Rest in Neepsend) continue to host music events at weekends in their tap room. The first Saturday of the month its Trojan Explosion from 8pm to 1am featuring Ska, Rocksteady and early Reggae music played on vinyl whilst most Sunday evenings sees live music. Check their Facebook page for details. The Royal Standard has closed, ei group are advertising the lease so it should reopen as soon as someone new takes the pub on.

The proposed micropub in Fulwood previously mentioned is going ahead and will be the sister venue to the Ecclesall Ale Club, run by the guys from Brew Foundation. The new bar & bottle shop is the Fulwood Ale Club, located at 4 Brooklands Avenue and is due to open some point in November. You can follow them on Twitter @AleClubFul. Thor’s Tipi bar returns to the Peace Gardens for it’s usual Christmas season alongside the Christmas market on 22nd November, staying a little longer this year, until 5th January. After having cask beer for the first couple of years, there was no ale last year which was disapointing (guess mulled wine and hot chocolate is the big sellers!). They are promising a bigger venue this year with a double tent space and extended choice on the bar, the online drinks menu shows a Thor’s Pale Ale so we’ll see! The food this year is pizza. The Green Room will only be opening in the evening from November, which means “Butties to Banquets” will no longer be serving breakfasts and lunches from their kitchen. The outside catering will still be available, check their Facebook page for contact details. In the evenings the programe of music and other events are now back in full swing following the summer holidays and the guest ale has recently been provided by Loxley Brewery. The Indie Beer Feast is back at Abbeydale Picture House on 6th and 7th March 2020. Shakespeare’s are holding a fruit sour event from 25th to 27th October. The Devonshire Cat’s Black Friday, a celebration of dark beers, takes place on 29th November from 5pm. The next Ball Street Deli takes place on Sunday 8th December, on a closed off Ball Street Bridge in Kelham Island. At the last event the Kelham Island Tavern provided a real ale tent. The Mallard at Worksop station host their Halloween beer festival from 31st October to 3rd November featuring 20 real ales and 4 ciders. The Wig & Pen has had a change on the food side of things. The restaurant partner has changed from Craft & Dough to Edo Sushi (all part of the Milestone Group). The Shepley Spitfire at Totley closed for refurbishment on 14th October, plans after reopening include an open mic night and an improved food menu.

Lost Industry Brewing have announced they are opening a City Centre tap room on SIdney Street in the new development built on the site of the old Niche nightclub. It will offer 21 lines of beer showcasing their own and guest beers plus pizzas and panninis to eat. They are aiming to have it ready to open in the Autumn. The former Psalter Tavern is due to reopen soon having been converted into a boutique hotel with a cafe bar on the ground floor offering craft beer. The Half Pint Marathon initiative is back throughout September. Two special charity beers have been brewed – True North Strider and Abbeydale Threshold – which will be available in 13 participating venues – Beer Engine, Rising Sun (Nether Green), Forum, Riverside (Kelham Island), University Arms, Broadfield, Church Temple of Fun, The York, Head of Steam, Brothers Arms, Old House, Bar Stewards and Devonshire Cat. Pick up a Half Pint Marathon collectors card and get it stamped at each venue when you buy one of the two charity beers, collect a stamp from each venue and you qualify for a shirt! Neepsend Brewery are hosting their monthly tap session on Saturday 7th September from 3pm to 10pm. This coincides with Peddlers Market. The Crow on Scotland Street is hosting Steel City Brewing’s 10th anniversary “a decade of bitterness” on 5th October. The annual Bradway family fun day takes place on Saturday 14th September from 1:30 to 4:30pm. This is organised as a community fundraiser for the Bradway Action Group. It takes place on the “Old School Field”, located on the junction of Bradway Road and Twentywell Lane. Drone Valley Brewery will be hosting the beer tent this year whilst a Wood Fired Pizza Oven and Bradway Meats will be selling hot food, whilst the community volunteers will be selling cakes and other treats! The event features fun for all the family including games, a circus entertainer, bouncy castle and a dog show. Bus 25 and M17 will drop you close by on Bradway Road. A planning application has been made to open a micropub in Fulwood on Brooklands  Avenue whilst in the City Centre there is a proposal to knock 3 shop units on West Street through to convert into a bar. True North Brewery have taken the lease for the Punch Bowl at Crookes and are currently refurbishing the pub before reopening it. The pub originally opened in 1920 and the brewery have run a photographic competition inviting locals to provide pictures of the pub and Crookes High Street over the years to feature on the walls when it reopens. Molly Malone’s Irish theme bar on West Street has removed the handpumps and real ale is no longer available. Coming soon to Dronfield is the Underdog bar, in the premises on Chesterfield Road previously occupied by Smiffy’s, who closed and sold up back in May. The new owner hasn’t moved far – she was previously the manager at the Dronfield Arms! Underdog promises an extensive selection of craft beer and cask ale, an enviable gin and wine list plus sharing boards. Talking of the Dronfield Arms, they now have a house beer brewed on site, it is a Mosaic hopped pale ale. The outdoor drinking area has been refurbished. Those familiar with pubs in the area may recognise the new manager, her parents run the Hyde Park Inn! Since the Urban 52 bar at Rotherham’s Loading Bay food hall has closed and been replaced with a pizza counter, cask beer has now been introduced on the venue’s own bar.  The regular beer is the ubiquitous Sharp’s (Coors) Doom Bar but regional guests from breweries such as Leeds have been reported alongside it! Newly opened in Rotherham on the High Street is the Three Cranes Inn. Rotherham CAMRA have named the New York Tavern, run by Chantry Brewery, their town pub of the year

It has been announced that the Two Rivers cafe bar should be opening in the autumn. This is a micropub being converted from former public toilets that sits over the confluence of the rivers Don and Sheaf on Blonk Street, an area of the City Centre currently being smartened up as part of the Grey-to-Green scheme which covers the corridor from West Bar to Castlegate. The bar will feature up to 5 cask beers and will also do food. It is owned by Red Sky Inns, who also own the Riverside cafe near Hillsborough and the Wentworth at Carbrook. A planning application has gone in to turn the former Steel City Cakes shop unit at 434-436 Abbeydale Road (across the junction from the Broadfield) into a micropub. The Olde Nags Head at Castleton has a house beer brewed just down the valley at Intrepid Brewery. Lucky Hoof is a 4.3% amber coloured best bitter. The Old Mustard Pot at Midhopestones reopened at the end of June. Under the new management of Matt Dawson, the pub offers an extensive food menu in addition to three cask beers. On our visit, these included Fullers Chiswick Bitter, a beer not often seen in our area. Good luck to Holly Whittaker-Leggett and family who have taken the Castle in Bolsterstone on a six-year lease. The is a large imposing open plan pub next to church in the centre of village. Popular with walkers and frequented by the local male voice choir, it was listed as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) in April 2014, the first Sheffield pub to achieve this status. Beers vary, but often include Black Sheep, Bradfield, Robinsons, Timothy Taylors and Wychwood. There is occasional live music, a quiz on Sunday evenings, Wednesday evening poker and Thursday, bingo and card night. The pub is also one of the sponsors for Stocksbridge Walkers are Welcome. The Green Dragon in Dronfield are holding their annual party in the car park on Sunday 25th August from 3pm to raise money for the local “Sam’s Journey” charity. There will be entertainment, stalls, bacon sarnies plus of course the pub’s bar. The latest addition to the growing collection of pubs and bars around the Kelham Island area is Saw Grinders Union at Globe Works, Shalesmoor, which opened on Thursday 4th July, compromising two buildings around a courtyard which between them feature a bar, coffee shop and restaurant. The smart looking bar has two handpumps serving cask beers which at the time of writing were from Abbeydale Brewery, they also have a number of craft beers on their keg taps. The Peak Hotel at Castleton has had a minor refurbishment and introduced a new food menu, they have also moved onto Heineken’s smart dispense system for cask ales which is more eco friendly, using less cleaning chemicals and also using less energy for cellar cooling. Crookes Social Club is celebrating their 100th anniversary with a festival from 9th to 11th August, raising funds for Sheffield Childrens hospital charity. The New Barrack Tavern on Penistone Road near Hillsborough is hosting a charity music festival over the bank holiday weekend 23rd to 25th August. Out & About, the LGBT+ beer drinkers group are leading a pub crawl after the Pride event in Endcliffe Park on 27th July, starting from the Ale Club on Ecclesall Road at 4:30pm.

The Dove & Rainbow in Sheffield City Centre is to close for a refurbishment and will be having a pre-furbishment party on Saturday 3rd August.  There will also be a weekend of live music on 19th to 21st July running alongside the Tramlines fringe. The refurbishment will see the toilets brought up to standard and the main pub and smoking area benefit from something of a fettle, however the general vibe of the pub is staying with the stage, sound system, pinball and pool tables, end wall murial, bar heads and memorials all set to remain! The Devonshire on Devonshire Street in Sheffield City Centre is reverting to it’s previous name – The Old House – following a refurbishment. It was due to reopen on 21st June. The Albion on London Road has been closed for a refurbishment and has now reopened with a new look! The Cowshed bar at the Graze Inn on Ecclesall Road has been refurbished, renamed and refocused, it is now a craft beer pub called the Eagle serving Thornbridge beer. The Big Tree at Woodseats has been closed for a refurbishment. A new Kelham Island venue has opened – Pa’s Bistro on Green Lane serves fresh food in a family run restaurant, it is open 8am to 10pm Mon-Sat and 10am to 10pm on Sundays. The drinks range includes a number of cask beers on handpump, currently from Fuggle Bunny Brewery. The Devonshire Cat has a tap takeover event with Chorlton Brewery planned for Thursday 25th July, from 5pm. The Derby Tup at Whittington Moor, Chesterfield, has been sold by Castle Rock Brewery to Rob Goodwin who will be running it as a free house. It will be closed from 30th June to 12th July for a cellar refit before reopening with an improved range of beer on both cask and keg. Rotherham CAMRA branch have presented a runner up certificate in their Rural Pub of the Year competition to the George & Dragon in Wentworth. A new food hall called “Loading Bay” has opened in Rotherham town centre, 5 minutes walk from Rotherham Central  tram/train station and bus interchange. It is the usual format with a number of street food counters and a bar. The bar has 4 handpumps, generally 3 regional or national cask ales and a cider. The Little Haven micropub at Parkgate, Rotherham (5 minute walk from the tram terminus) is holding a music and charity event on Sunday 4th August from midday through into the evening.

The Devonshire Cat in Sheffield City Centre is hosting a meet the brewer event with Wilde Child on 25th April. The Saturday of Easter weekend saw the final day of food service by Wing Kings at the Dog & Partridge. Wing Kings’ kitchen residency is moving to the Blind Monkey in Walkley. The Dorothy Pax bar at Victoria Quays is holding their ‘Canal Lines’ music festival on the 20th and 21st July (yes the same weekend as Tramlines – see what they’ve done there?!) with the Honey Bee Blues Club curating a days entertainment. The event starts at midday both days with entertainment currently scheduled from 3:30pm on Saturday and 4pm Sunday. The Rutland Arms is celebrating Star Wars Day (May the 4th be with you – geddit) by hosting the latest Stout Wars Trilogy of beers from Steel City Brewing (and collaborative partners!) The Washington on Fitzwilliam Street in Sheffield City Centre is hosting a music festival on Sunday 5th May with live music inside and (weather permitting) DJs in the beer garden. The event is organised jointly by Violet Gang and Musicians Against Homlessness, doors open at 2pm and entry is free. The Washington normally has a range of 6 real ales on the bar. A new micropub is opening soon in Bakewell in a former newsagent shop located by the area all the buses, including the 218 from Sheffield, stop. The pub is to be called “The Joiners Arms“, a reference to the fact the guy opening the pub also owns a joinery business (as well as owning the Dronfield Arms and a co-owning the Beer House micropub on Ecclesall Road). The planned opening date is 3rd May and the bar will feature 6 cask lines and 6 keg lines. The Harley Hotel on Glossop Road, near the University of Sheffield tram stop, closed suddenly at the beginning of April. This hotel and bar was also home to the Twisted Burger Company, live music and club nights and is leased from a pub company. The statement on their Facebook page, which has now been deleted, talked about them like many others struggling to keep a live music venue financially viable. It apparantly won’t be the end of Twisted Burgers and we are advised to look out for an announcement on that subject, the same management also run the Wick at Both Ends bar on West Street which has recently been refurbished and is home to their Twisted Pizza operation. They are also involved with organising Tramlines festival. Kommune Food Hall on Angel Street (part of the old Co-Op department store building) is now open for business with a range of street food kitchens, coffee counter bakery and bar all with shared communal seating. It is also the new home of the Hop Hideout beer shop. Neither the main ‘Drinks Department’ bar or Hop Hideout are serving cask beer, however both have some decent craft beers available on keg and of course Hop Hideout have an impressive bottle selection! Their first EVER beer festival will be held at the Wisewood Inn from 21st to 23rd June. There will be over twenty cask ales, plus can/bottle bar, cider and craft. Food and live music throughout. Open Fri-Sat noon- 11:00pm, Sun noon-10:00pm. Free admission at all times. Bus 31 from Sheffield City Centre (Angel Street) stops right outside. Sheffield’s annual folk music sessions festival was held over the Easter weekend across a number of participating pubs – the Dog & Partridge, Kelham Island Tavern, Shakespeares, Hillsborough Hotel, Gardeners Rest, Bar Stewards, Ship Inn, 3 Tuns and Church House. A local member has reported the Chapeltown Taphouse has extended their CAMRA members discount to be available all week subject to some terms and conditions whilst offers on a Monday have been opened up to all customers. You can keep up with their latest news by liking their Facebook page as things can change from time to time! The Three Cranes on Queen Street in Sheffield City Centre has two real ales available, at last visit these were from Kelham Island Brewery.  Saturday night are generally party nights with a DJ on, check their Facebook page for event details, whilst on Sundays they are serving roast dinners. The Punchbowl at Crookes has reportedly been sold by Greene King to a local brewery. A licence application has been made for the former off licence unit at 8 Middlewood Road (just up from Hillsborough corner), this could see another micropub join the Brass Monkey and Sports Shack in the area. The Dead Donkey bar opened at 240 Abbeydale Road (the former Mr Pickles shop) on 12th April offering craft beer, wines, spirits, cocktails and grilled cheese sandwiches. Sheffield Beer Week saw the launch of  “Out & About“, a new LGBT+ social group for those that enjoy craft beer, their mission to create a safe space within the Sheffield beer community. Their launch party was at the Devonshire Cat with a second social taking place in April at the Rutland Arms. If  you’d like to join them you can find out a bit more via Facebook.com/outandaboutsheff. Work continues on renovations, refurbishment and fitting out at the Crow Inn on Scotland Street, a craft beer bar and boutique hotel being opened by Chris and Kate from the Rutland Arms. At the time of going to press an opening date hadn’t been announced but the current target is mid to late May. A special collaboration beer has been brewed with Steel City Brewing for the opening of the Crow Inn. It is a 7.2% ABV dry hopped sour Brut IPA called Corvus Corone, which is the scientific name for the Carrion Crow, which according to the RSPB is a species that can be quite fearless yet wary of man. Make of that what you will. The King & Miller at Deepcar (Bradfield Brewery’s second pub after the Nags Head near Loxley) have been recruiting staff for their newly refurbished kitchen and are to introduce food. JD Wetherspoons, you’ve probably noticed, regularly review their locations with new openings as well as closures. The latest round of closures around the country have been announced with the only one in South Yorkshire being the Rhinoceros in Rotherham, where customers will of course have an alternative branch – the Blue Coats – that is bigger and nicer just up the hill! Rotherham CAMRA branch have announced their Pub of the Year winners. Their overall winner was the Wath Tap micropub – a wonderful friendly little community orientated bar with good ale just a couple of minutes from Wath bus station (buses 22a/22c/22x run there regularly from Rotherham Interchange via Parkgate, if you are going from Sheffield there are plenty of buses, trams and trains connecting to Rotherham). They also presented a ‘most improved pub’ award to the Church House Wetherspoons, also in Wath upon Dearne and a Rotherham town centre pub of the Year to the Blue Coats Wetherspoon. The latest from Rotherham branch can be found on their Facebook page. Dronfield & District branch, another of our neighbours, have also presented their awards with the Pub of the year going to the Miners Arms in Hundall, Cider Pub going to the Travellers Rest in Apperknowle and Club of the Year going to the Pioneer Club in Dronfield. Their Winter Pub of the Season was the Cross Daggers in Coal Aston. More details can be found in their ‘Peel Ale’ magazine or online at www.dronfield.camra.org.uk. Sheffield Brewery are supplying beer for a Mayday bank holiday weekend tap takeover at the Chesterfield Alehouse micropub.