Portland House
Ecclesall Road’s Portland House has a new look!
Portland House was opened in February 2015 by Welbeck Abbey Brewery. In December 2017 it was taken over by industry novice Lance Worthington. A Photographer and Designer, Lance learned the trade in a New York bar and has applied his design flare and customer service skills to transform the bar to what it is now. With a completely new look and feel and an exciting new stock and cellar, Portland House now has one of the most exciting ranges in the area.
Recently verified by Untapped, Portland House has 6 constantly rotating cask ales and 9 kegs from local and national brewers. The bar also has over 40 gins, 10 rums, 10 whiskeys and a gorgeous wine list carefully selected in collaboration with StarmoreBoss wine merchants. The Drinks menu now has well over 100 drinks all poured to perfection by its welcoming staff.
If you’ve not been down recently, go down and sample what’s on offer, enjoy the chilled vibe and relax in the company of our many regulars. The bar has outside seating where you can enjoy the oddity of Ecclesall Road and room inside for over 50 guests. Portland House wants to be Sheffield’s favourite micro bar and regularly host parties for guests that all are welcome to enjoy.
Plus, if you’re in from 4pm to 7pm Monday – Thursday, the Early Bird session has 20% off everything. PH is located between the Nursery Tavern and Uncle Sam’s. See you down there.
Working in a classroom can be enough to turn even the most dedicated of teachers to drink, but a former languages tutor has tapped into his love of the continent and craft beer to breathe a new lease of life into a former Rotherham-based DIY shop after tapping into help from alternative lending provider Finance For Enterprise.
A planning application was recently made to demolish The Plough Inn (Sandygate Road, Crosspool). The Plough was a Tennants pub for many years. In 1962, ownership changed when Whitbread took over Sheffield-based Tennants. In 2003, Enterprise Inns (Ei) took ownership. Since then, there appears to have been no serious maintenance work. Many would claim that the pub has been left to rot.
When the pub closed in 2015, a local community group obtained ACV (Asset of Community Value) status from Sheffield City Council (SCC). Ei then leased the building to Sainsburys. Sainsburys then waited until peak holiday time before, on 2nd.August, submitting a planning application to turn the pub into a ‘convenience store.’ This application was subsequently turned down.
Both the Plough and the adjacent football ground have ACV status with the nearby, Towers Lodge, Grade II listed. The Plough was rebuilt in 1929 and is an important example of an inter war public house which, according to Historic England, are ’rare and overlooked buildings’. National planning policy recognises the importance of protecting historic assets and their ‘setting.’ This was confirmed in the decision of the local authority to refuse the application from Sainsbury’s.
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 is important in the history of football (the first inter-club game was adjacent, the rules of football written in the pub ………). This is the venue whose historical value outweighs speculative commercial development. It is a cultural icon which should be protected.
In 2017, the building was sold to Spacepad UK, which outbid the Save the Plough campaign group’s £435,000 offer made after raising thousands of pounds by selling community shares. The Plough was recently relisted as an ACV. This protects its status as a public house. This decision was based on widespread support from the community, individuals, families and local organisations.
As reported in Beer Matters, in February 2019, a planning application was made to erect a mobile phone mast close to the site. The application stated: “The NTQ (Notice to Quit) site is the Plough Inn, which has recently been bought by developers who have plans to convert the pub into residential with parking. A new site is urgently required to replace the current one.” At this point, there was no planning permission to demolish the Plough. Rightly, the application for a mobile mast was recently withdrawn.
The application to demolish the Plough does not provide any evidence to suggest that it is not viable as a public house. The developer states that no offers were received to lease the pub. This was because it was offered for a completely unrealistic rent of £50,000 pa. Average rents in this area are between £24,000 and £29,000. This planning application would see the Plough replaced by eight houses on the site, none of which would be affordable for local people.
The campaign to preserve the Plough is about more than just saving a pub. It has been about gaining wider recognition of the historic role of the area in the sporting history of Sheffield. We believe that this planning application should be rejected and the Plough allowed to return to use as a community pub.
As part of Heritage Open days 2019, I’m leading a Pub Heritage Walk on Friday 13th.September and two walks on 20th.September. These will take in some of the entries in the CAMRA ‘Sheffield’s Real Heritage Pubs’ book.
On Friday 13th., in this new walk, we will commence at the ‘Fat Cat’ and proceed to the ‘Gardeners’ via a short stop in the ‘Wellington.’ Along the way, we will take a circuitous route through aspects of the brewing and industrial history of Sheffield before completing the walk at the Gardeners Rest, close to the now derelict, Stones Brewery.
The following week, we will commence at ‘Fagans’ and proceed to the ‘Dog and Partridge’ via a short stop outside the ‘Grapes.’ After a refreshment break, we will proceed past the ‘Red Deer’ and ‘Bloo88,’ before completing the walk at ‘The Bath Hotel.’
En route we will pass: ‘Stanch,’ (the statue of a Pointer dog), the building with three different date stones, and the then home of the company whose claim to fame is that the owner was the first man to climb Nelson’s Column.
In both walks there will also be Victorian tilework, terrazzo flooring, art deco glasswork, a mention of long-gone Sheffield Breweries and much more ….
The 13th.September walk will take place once: 15:00. Places are limited (to 15) and may be booked via Eventbrite: http://tiny.cc/93zx7y
The 20th.September walk will take place twice: 14:30 and 17:30. Places are limited (to 15) and may also be booked via Eventbrite:
14:30 start: https://tinyurl.com/y5249v8e
17:30 start: https://tinyurl.com/y3wjsmp8
If you can’t wait until September, you could try the Sheffield Pub Heritage book:
https://sheffield.camra.org.uk/rhp. A limited number of paper copies of the book will be available at the bargain price of £5.00.
– Dave Pickersgill, Sheffield CAMRA, Pub Heritage Officer 
Originally opened as a Rawsons pub in 1797, the C20th.saw a series of changes resulting in the closure of the pub in 2010, the building becoming The Sleep Hotel. Recently, under the same management as the Rutland Arms, it reopened with the new name.
The porch has internal leaded windows and an impressive ceramic floor which features an image of a crown. Apart from the opening-out of the room on the right, the basic layout of the interior is relatively unchanged since the mid C20th. The fittings are of varying ages, with some recent renovation. Unusually, the off sales was approached via the entrance to the rear yard: purchasers entering through a small door to access the servery.
Historically, as the Crown Inn, or the Old Crown, the pub is mentioned as a key player in the 1840’s Chartist protests, the Sheffield Outrages and the 1920’s Sheffield Gang Wars. The outrages saw the 1859 murder of James Lindley: ‘saw-grinder, was sitting at the Crown Inn, Scotland Street.’ On February 17th.1925, there was a fracas outside the Crown, involving about 30 youths. A knuckleduster, a life preserver, two razors and a hammer were picked up after the incident. Bricks, cellar grates and other missiles were alleged to have been thrown. The crowd were dispersed but returned for another fight after midnight when the two lads were arrested and subsequently charged.
Thomas Rawson’s and Co. Brewery (Pond Street) was destroyed by enemy action on 12th.December 1940. The site was subsequently developed as Sheffield Polytechnic (now Sheffield Hallam University). The pub then came into the hands of Gilmours, then Tetleys. It is now an innovative, enterprising free house with an excellent range of beer – during opening week, the Corbeau Noir was not to be missed.
The Crow Inn finally opened on Thursday 6th June after many months of renovations, refurbishment and fitting out of the premises as a craft beer pub downstairs and en-suite hotel rooms upstairs. There is also a sun trap beer patio at the rear.
There are 5 real ales on handpump, including two regular beers from Abbeydale (Daily Bread – a traditional brown, malty bitter – and Heathen, a gluten free pale ale) with the rest being regularly changing guest beers. On the opening night the guests were from Red Willow, Beatnikz Republic and Ridgeside. There is also a very interesting line up of craft beers on keg which on opening night included an 11.9% oreo imperial stout all the way from Oklahoma! For the traditional cider drinker there is also a range of 3 or 4 bag in box ciders available.
The team opening the Crow have a fine pedigree – Chris and Kate already operate the Rutland Arms on Brown Street in the City Centre, Wendy is a successful business woman who was also a previous landlady of the Harlequin and the manager employed at the Crow, Adam, has moved up there from Shakespeares.
You can find the Crow Inn on Scotland Street, just off West Bar. Bus 31 stops outside.