Inn Brief
The Bloomery at Broomhill have removed their handpumps and no longer sells real ale, although some craft beers still feature on the keg taps.
CAMRA award winning licensee Karen Lang-Norris is now at the Ranmoor Inn, Fulwood Road. The Ranmoor has a delightful enclosed stable yard for smokers and a glorious patio with seating out the front. There is a general knowledge on Thursday at 9.30pm. Seven beers are usually on the bar, Abbeydale Deception, Bradfield Farmers Ale and Blonde, Taylor Boltmaker and Landlord, Tetley Bitter and an ever changing guest beer. Local pork pies are available. The frequent 120 bus will get you there.
The new manager of the Shiny Sheff, Paul, is hoping to bring back life into this Marston’s pub at Lodge Moor. There is a games area with dart board and pool table and the split level lounge has conservatory leading onto the decking with views over the golf course towards Stannington. Thursday is karaoke night with live music on Saturday and a midweek quiz night is planned. There are food offers every night and drinks offers throughout the week. On a recent visit there were Hob Goblin Gold, Jennings Cumberland and Vantage 82. The beer range changes with the wide choice from Marston’s. The 51 bus serves the pub.
The Castle Inn at Bradway has been shortlisted for an Ei-Group (formely Enterprise Inns, the national pub owning company the pub is leased from) award for best food offer. It has already won the divisional award and this puts the pub, lead by chefs Jack Baker and Jack Windsor, in the top 9 to be judged in the national final, which is due to be announced at a gala award ceremony in July. As well as good food, the pub offers up to 3 real ales.
The Cross Keys at Handsworth has been refurbished and reopened as the Chantry Inn, under the management of Chantry Brewery of Rotherham.
The Punchbowl at Crookes has joined the fold of True North Brewery and is to undergo refurbishment before reopening.
Meltdown Sheffield, an e-sports gaming bar, opened on the 11th May in the premises on Snig Hill previously known as Under the Boardwalk (and various other incarnations before that, it was once a tap for Samuel Smiths Brewery when the venue upstairs was the Black Swan).
Triplepoint Brewery & Bar on Shoreham Street is running an after work social type event every Friday from 6:30pm, usually involving live music and pizza as well of course as a range of beers brewed on site.
The Northern Monkey micropub is due to open soon at 8 Middlewood Road, Hillsborough. It is being opened by the same people as the Brass Monkey further up the same road.
The usual Saturday tap session at Drone Valley Brewery on Saturday 25th May sees the added interest of the brewery yard being the finish line for a charity duck race on the river Drone. The event runs from midday until 4pm, the location of the start line hadn’t been confirmed at the time of writing.
A planning application has been submitted to convert a shop unit into a micropub on Mosborough High Street.
The Little Haven Ale House micropub at Parkgate, Rotherham, is celebrating its first birthday on Saturday 1st June from 7pm with a buffet, raffle and prizes as well as the usual attractions such as real ale! This friendly little bar is 5 minutes walk from Parkgate tram terminus.
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. 
So far, the owners claim to have spent £735k: roof work, removal of debris round the building, removal of layers of tarmac ….. most importantly, the preservation and partial restoration of the Grade II* listed interior. The ‘Old Oak Room’ is now ready for a careful repainting of the ceiling. In addition, the upstairs room with its C17/18th. fireplace will be brought into public use when the building reopens.
With 14 draught products – including cask and craft ales, lagers and ciders – The Peak Hotel was commended for having a “pint to suit every palate” and for its rotating choice of beers from local breweries such as Bradfield and Abbeydale. The pub also scored highly for its cellar management, staff training on beer – carried out by Edward Theakson of Theakston Brewery – and for helping customers choose their ideal pint by offering a ‘try before you buy’ policy and displaying the colours of its craft and cask ales.
The judges put the award down to the dedication of licensee Rick Ellison who transformed the tired, unloved pub when he took it over five years ago, investing in a £200,000 revamp to upgrade and refurbish The Peak Hotel in a quirky style, which has won it a reputation as Castleton’s most eccentric pub.
Ellison, who grew up in the Peak District, also runs the Old Hall Hotel at Hope and is a champion of great beer and cider in the surrounding area, founding the Hope Valley Beer & Cider festival four years ago. He received the prestigious award for The Peak Hotel at a gala ceremony at The Belfry resort in Sutton Coldfield from comedian Ed Byrne.
The win is a double celebration for Rick who will be marking the 300th anniversary of the Old Hall Hotel gaining its license next month.
Rick said: “We take great pride in the quality of our beer and cider and invest a lot of time in looking after them. It’s a fantastic acknowledgment and a real honour to have won. It wouldn’t have been possible without our brilliant team of staff.”
Both Darrell and Richard successfully passed their own personal licences and plans were then submitted for A4 status at the Arch, which was dutifully granted by Sheffield City Council with a handful of conditions. The final hurdle was the premises licence; there was plenty of paperwork to be done here, but again this was granted by SCC in early August 2018 following the nerve-wracking 28-day window for any opposition. The notification from the council triggered that six-week renovation, and friends and family mucked in to meet all of the deadlines and milestones.
Following a detailed recruitment process, the doors were open for the first time on Monday 24 September for a friends and family night, followed by a VIP night on the Tuesday for local Chapeltown businesses. The Monday “soft launch” was intentional to iron out any teething problems prior to our first weekend, however, we did not appreciate just how overwhelmingly well the new venture would be received.
Fast forward six months and many lessons have been learned. We now have CAMRA discount night on Mondays, have had themed quizzes on Tuesdays (80’s and 90’s nights going down particularly well), live entertainment on Wednesdays and Sunday afternoons as well as free YAPAS (pork pie and sausage rolls) on Friday and Saturday lunchtimes.
We strive to procure all of our stock from the Yorkshire area, ales, cans, a rotating keg line, gins even bar snacks to keep the local economy thriving. For more information on what’s happening at The Chap Tap, check out our Facebook and Instagram pages which is regularly updated. We have a great transport network in Chapeltown, trains are just a 10-minute ride from the town centre, we hope to see you soon at The Chap Tap!
Darrell Johnson 
