Category: Pubs

WhatPub survey volunteers needed!

Posted on by Andy Cullen
WhatPub is the rather handy public face of CAMRA’s pub database, maintained by volunteer members of branches across the country. The website is designed to be an online guide listing every pub and club in the country. It also allows members to score their beers, which helps gives an idea where the best beer is to be found! We think we have everywhere in Sheffield you can go for a pint listed on WhatPub, however are equally aware that the information for some of the pubs are now out of date. Formal survey work undertaken is very limited and we rely on members and publicans to submit up to date information on things like opening hours, beer range, food service etc. There is a link on every pub’s page to submit updates, so if you run a pub or go to a pub for a beer, please consider checking their WhatPub entry is correct and if not, let us know the latest details.

Inn Brief

Posted on by Andy Cullen
The Gardeners Rest at Neepsend is hosting a bar billiards tournament on 18th March with a 6pm start. To take part you need to register in advance at the bar and the entry fee is £1. Beery events coming up at Shakespeares on Gibraltar Street include tap takeovers with Howling Hops (27th February) and Torrside (9th March) then “Collabracadabra”, a festival of collaboration brew beers from 13th to 15th March. The Devonshire Cat in Sheffield City Centre host one of their regular Abbeydale Brewery Funk Dungeon events on Thursday 27th February from 5-8pm with brewer Jim hosting private tastings. The Funk Dungeon range tend to be sour, barrel aged and other experimental brews and the latest releases will be available on cask, keg and can. Jabbarwocky bar on London Road are hosting a Wylam tap takeover from 6th to 8th March with a range of 2 cask and 5 keg beers plus a selection of cans. The Blue Stoops on Dronfield High Street is hosting tap takeovers with Ilkley and Drone Valley Breweries between 9th and 15th March. The Ratebeer website has been naming their annual award winners with national recognition given to the Sheffield Tap (brewpub category) and Shakespeare’s (pub/bar category). Within South Yorkshire Hop Hideout was the top bottle shop so along with international honours for the Brewery of St Mars of the Desert there is a lot of love for Sheffield’s beer scene there! The Masons in Crookes was due to reopen on 21st February following refurbishment. Mid February saw a number of venues in our area joining in Tiny Rebel Brewery’s 8th birthday with tap takeovers, including the Head of Steam, Two Thirds Beer Co, Millowner Arms and Chesterfield Alehouse. Toolmakers Brewery tap room is hosting a comedy night on 5th March with free entry. The New Barrack Tavern is hosting a cider & cheese tasting night on 18th March, check their Facebook event or ask at the bar for more details. The Swan at Ridgeway has announced that they will again this year be teaming up with 3 other pubs in the village to put on Ridgeway beer festival on Saturday 16th May featuring real ale, live music, food and more.

Sheffield Beer Week – Pub Heritage walks

Posted on by Andy Cullen
As part of Sheffield Beer Week, we are leading three Pub Heritage walks: On Sunday 8th.March (14:00), we’ll be in the West Street area and on both Thursday 12th. (16:00) and Friday 13th (14:00), we’ll be on Kelham Island finishing with a tour at the Sheffield Brewing Company. All three walks will include Victorian tilework, terrazzo flooring, art deco glasswork, a mention of long-gone Sheffield Breweries and much more …. After the last two walks, Sheffield Brewing Company will be showing  a series of films: a collection of short dramas, humorous trade films, perceptive documentaries and archival newsreel items, together presenting a history of the British boozer. Full details and booking information is available: Sunday 8th.March: https://tinyurl.com/vp4d2gj Thursday 12th.March: https://tinyurl.com/raklr8t Friday 13th.March: https://tinyurl.com/rfeqtkb If you can’t wait until Sheffield Beer Week, you could try the third edition of the Sheffield Pub Heritage book:   https://sheffield.camra.org.uk/rhp/
  • Dave Pickersgill

Dorothy Pax – Pint Party

Posted on by Andy Cullen
We’ve been super busy beavers at the Pax, we moved the bar!  Don’t worry it’s still in our cosy arch at Victoria Quays, but to help you find it here’s our 3 Little Words location: Scenes/Soaks/Jungle.
It wasn’t an easy task moving what we believe is the oldest, heaviest and tallest bar top in Sheffield.  In doing so we got extra thirsty so….to prevent dehydration during this task we decided to add an additional x3 keg lines and a further x2 cask lines.  Thereby meaning we now have x9 keg and x7 cask in total and we intend to fill them with tasty, tasty beer.
To celebrate this we’d like to invite you all down to the Pax for our mini-beer festival starting Friday 20th of March and running through to Sunday 22nd, and of course we’ll have live music throughout the weekend, as per Pax.
The weekend will also see the return of 2nd Annual Yellow Wellie-Olympics, raising money for Appledore RNLI on Sunday.
Check our FB page for full details.
Ahoy and welcome aboard, love Pax Cat and Pax Crew.

Inn Brief

Posted on by Andy Cullen
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.

Carbrook Hall

Posted on by Dave Pickersgill

As you are probably aware, as a pub, the ACV-rated, Carbrook Hall closed in March 2017 and over two years later reopened as ‘Starbucks Carbrook Hall.’ Just before Christmas, I finally visited. The Jacobean wood panelling in the ‘Old Oak Room’ has been retained and is in good condition. However, the ceiling has received a heavy dose of white paint. On my previous visit, in April 2019 while renovations were taking place, the ceiling was exhibiting the distinctive colourful design which had been in place for years.

This heavy use of white paint is the heritage equivalent of taking white paint to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (1471/81). From 1508/12, Michelangelo painted the Renaissance frescoes on the ceiling. They remain to this day. The same should have happened to the paintwork on the ceiling of the Old Oak Room.

Suffice to say, that was my last ever visit to a Starbucks.

Dave Pickersgill

The Plough, Sandygate

Posted on by Andy Cullen

As previously stated, we believe that the Plough should be functioning as a Community pub, with the added attraction of its key place in the history of world football. A small internal museum would not be inappropriate. However, the Plough continues to be under threat.

The planning saga commenced when the previous owners, Enterprise Inns (Ei), decided to deliberately run-down their historically important asset before closure in 2015. Since then, there has been no serious maintenance work. Ei and the subsequent owners, Spacepad Construction Ltd., have left the pub to rot. Planning law places responsibility for the condition of the site with the current owner. By law, the building should have been maintained in a fit and proper condition for its current permitted use as a public house.

The site has deteriorated to such an extent that some local residents claim it is an ‘eyesore.’ These concerns are currently the subject of a Planning Enforcement enquiry regarding the unauthorised use of the site as a waste disposal facility and a storage site for unregistered vehicles. An Enforcement Notice has been recommended. Sheffield CC should issue a requirement for the building, and site, to be reinstated to the condition it was in at the time of purchase from Ei. At that point, an independent report, commissioned by the Plough Community Benefit Society Ltd., demonstrated that, in order for the pub to reopen, no major building work was required and that internal refitting costs were manageable within a realistic business plan. If the owners fail to reinstate the property, the Council should exercise its power to compulsorily purchase in order to avoid further deterioration.

The additional material recently submitted to the planning application by the applicant is essentially a re-mix of previously submitted documents, including correspondence concerning the marketing of the Plough and the exorbitant, and unrealistic, rental valuation of £50,000 per annum. The additional material does not demonstrate continuous marketing of the Plough at a realistic valuation as required by widely agreed criteria such as CAMRA’s Viability Test.

The recent planning history of a site is also a relevant consideration in planning decisions. In 2017, the local authority rejected Sainsbury’s application for change of use based on the Plough’s listing as an ACV and it accepted that there were no alternative community facilities within a reasonable distance. In 2018, following the sale of the Plough, the local authority re-listed the pub as an ACV. As there have been no material changes in the reasons why the Plough was listed as an ACV, this should remain an overriding consideration in any decision.

The closing date for comments regarding the latest planning application is 28th.January 2020: www.sheffield.gov.uk/planning reference: 19/02130/FUL

The pub is adjacent to the ground of Hallam FC (the 2nd.oldest football club in the world). Hallam occupy Sandygate, the oldest football ground in the world, the site of the first football game (Hallam v Sheffield FC) as recognised by FIFA. The Plough should be allowed to return as both a community pub and a key player in the developing Sheffield Football History experience.

Dave Pickersgill, Pub Heritage Officer

“Heart of the City 2” and the Sportsman

Posted on by Andy Cullen
Heart of the City2 is the large mixed-use development which is currently taking place in Sheffield City Centre. The scheme aims to provide quality office space, 4/5* hotels, flats, shops, food outlets and more (https://www.heartofcity2.com/). Included in this development is the Sportsman on Cambridge Street, S1 4HP. This pub is located in the area designated, ‘H1,’ a space in which some old buildings are to be retained. The Sportsman dates back to the mid C19th. and is close to the site of the recently demolished Athol Hotel. In the 1975 CAMRA National Good Beer Guide, it was described as, ‘one of the few pleasant and comfortable city-centre pubs selling real ale.’ Electric-pumped Tetley Bitter was the single choice. From 2014, the pub was run by Kelham Island Brewery, as the Tap and Tankard. It closed early in 2018 when surrounded by scaffolding as Heart of the City2 began to gather place. It is now ripe for a planned re-opening. To the rear is the Grade II* listed, ‘Leah’s Yard,’ one of the few remaining examples of the courtyard workshops characteristic of Sheffield. The Leah family after whom the yard is named carried out drop-stamping for the silverware trade. Ideally, we would like to see the Sportsman return to its old name as a traditional outlet. Such a departure would complement both its surroundings and other nearby food outlets. If anyone is aware of future plans for the pub, we would appreciate the detail. Dave Pickersgill – pubheritage@sheffield.camra.org.uk

Inn Brief

Posted on by Andy Cullen
A new pub has opened in Castleton. The Swiss House bar on How Lane is part of a family run bed and breakfast accommodation and open to the public, serving up to four real ales. (Photo Robin Gee). The former Palm Tree at Walkley has reopened as the Raven under the same ownership as Loxley Brewery and the Wisewood Inn, following a thorough refurbishment. Six cask beers are available, a mix of Loxley and guest beers. The Shepley Spitfire at Totley Rise has reopened following refurbishment. If you enjoyed visiting the Millowners Arms at Kelham Island Museum during our beer festival, the good news is it is now open full time as a proper pub! It features 6 real ales on handpump along with various keg beers and canned craft beers -plus of course wines, spirits and soft drinks. Bar Stewards on Gibraltar Street has reopened following a refurbishment which has added a second toilet and relocated the bar. The Wharncliffe Arms reopened as a Bradfield Brewery pub on 21 November. The Dove & Rainbow is hosting a meet the brewer event with Laine Brew Company on 27 November at 6:30pm. The Ale Club on Ecclesall Road celebrated their 2nd birthday and Hop Hideout, now in Kommune food hall on Angel Street, celebrated their 6th birthday over the weekend of 16 November. Hop Hideout are also extending their weekend opening hours for the duration of the Christmas shopping period. The Sheffield Tap celebrates its 10th birthday on 28 November from 5pm with some classic beers as well as a new one brewed to celebrate ten years, there will also be cake! Walkley Beer Company celebrate their 5th birthday on 29 November and the beer line up will include the launch of a collaboration brew with Neepsend. The Devonshire Cat‘s Black Friday event this year is on 29 November, here it isn’t people at a shopping mall getting stampeded in the rush for discounted goods, it is a celebration of dark beer styles with some rather interesting beers to try! Peddler Market December event is on Friday 6 (5pm-11pm) and Saturday 7 (2pm-11pm) with the usual format of street food vendors, craft beer and other drinks, makers stalls and music inside and out the warehouse at 92 Burton Road. The guest brewery featuring on the tap wall this month is Gun Brewery. A small new bar called Berlin Bar has opened in Crookesmoor, no real ale though. The former Pa’s Bar & Bistro has now reopened as Bar Kelham, serving food and drink starting with breakfast at 9am. No real ale however.

CAMRA pub heritage update

Posted on by Andy Cullen

After a lengthy absence, the CAMRA national Pub Heritage website is now back on line in a much improved format.

This is the definitive guide to the nation’s most important historic pub interiors. Since the 1960s few pubs have escaped major changes but this website helps you seek out the best remaining historic examples.

This list has been compiled by CAMRA’s Pub Heritage Group and is the product of over thirty years of careful research. It identifies pubs with intact traditional interiors or which have features and rooms of national importance. They range from simple unaltered village pubs to glorious late-Victorian extravaganzas.

In addition, the third edition of the Sheffield Pub Heritage book is now available as a free download. This has expanded to 113 pages and includes new entries and almost 100 new images.

https://pubheritage.camra.org.uk/

https://sheffield.camra.org.uk/rhp/