Inn Brief
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.
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. 
The Joiners Arms micropub opened in Bakewell on Friday 2nd May and features 6 cask ales on handpumps plus a further selection of craft beers on keg taps. A loyalty card is available to buy that offers discounts on pints of beer.
Breweries featured on the handpump on the opening day included Buxton, North Riding, Abbeydale, Torrside, Hawkshead and Thornbridge.
The pub is located on North Church Street by the roundabout, conveniently close to the bus stop where the 218 to Sheffield departs from! 
To that note, we have an upcoming tasting evening featuring beer procured from three regional Belgian breweries: 3 Fonteinen, Oud Beersel and Hanssens Artisanaal. The various gueuze and kriek beers will be paired with topical breads, cheeses, jams and mustards. This is sure to be an incredible evening, and tickets are extremely limited; details of which can be found on our Facebook Page. Search: Railway Hotel Bramall Lane.
Meanwhile to drink there is more than just tea, a range of craft beer is available in cans for diners to accompany their meal, including their own collaboration with Abbeydale Brewery – Birdhouse, a beer brewed with green tea, jasmine and hibiscus. Also available from Abbeydale is Heathen Pale Ale, which is now gluten free. At the time of writing assistant Manager Elli was planning on updating the beer selection and it is fantastic to see effort being made to serve good beer that compliments the food.