Going back 15 years or so, a big night out on the town in Sheffield generally involved going to a nightclub as pretty much every pub and bar closed at 11pm. It would cost £5-10 to get in the club (although there were cheaper offers if you went in before 11pm to beat the queues) and although there were attractions in the form of music and opportunities to pull, the choice of drinks was generally terrible and expensive. In many city centre bars and clubs, I used to opt for the safe option of a bottle of Beck’s. The nightclubs generally used to shut at around 2am, from when there were huge queues in kebab shops and a choice of going on a hunt for an elusive taxi or catching the 2:30am night bus.
Fast forward to today, following the licencing reform of 2003 – something CAMRA campaigned for – pubs and bars can apply for a licence for any opening hours as long as the council feel it is appropriate for the location. There are now many places to get real ale (and other craft beers) well into the night – on a weekend, at least. The fast food and taxi situation is much improved too, although sadly night buses are no more.
Anyway, here is the first part of my guide to a post-midnight pint in Sheffield city centre – whether that be on a big night out or unwinding after a late shift at work!
Market Place
Large classic Wetherspoon’s pub on two floors offering all you expect from the ‘Spoons chain, including national and local ales at reasonable prices. Open until 1am on Friday and Saturday nights.
West Street
On a Saturday night the opening hours are extended until 1am, it has music and TV screens but also plenty of seating if you want a more relaxed evening. There are a number of real ales available, a mixture of national brands and the more popular local beers, including Bradfield Farmer’s Blonde.
Leopold Street
On a Friday and Saturday night this bar parties through until 2am with 80s music. A range of the more popular real ales, both local and national, are available here.
Botanist
Leopold Square
Despite the lack of handpumps, ale is available here – look out for the little blackboards hanging above the bar. A quiet, civilised bar with tables outside in the square and a restaurant upstairs. The bar is open until 1am on Wednesdays and until 2am Thursday to Saturday (midnight the rest of the week).
Division Street
By day this bar located in an old fire station is a relaxed affair serving up beer and burgers. At night it is still civilised thanks to keen door staff, but livelier with DJs providing music. A couple of real ales are on offer; Abbeydale Moonshine is a regular. Open until 2am on Friday and Saturday nights.
West Street
Aimed primarily at students, this long thin venue has pool tables at one end and seating throughout the rest plus music and TV screens. A couple of real ales are available – normally a national brand and one of the more popular local ones – and there are some craft beers of reasonable interest on keg. Open until 1am on Friday and Saturday nights.
St James Street
By day this pub, located in a classic gothic building, feels smart and relaxed with a simple food offering. At the weekends it often sees live rock music and possibly a more alternative crowd. Real ales are generally national brands such as Theakston’s and Robinson’s but local guest ales also feature at busier times. Open until 2am Friday and Saturday nights.
Devonshire Street
Previously known as the Old House, this recently refurbished little bar in an old Georgian townhouse run by True North Brewery has a range of beers. While the daytime vibe is a relaxed one with food service, the evening is livelier with a DJ providing the music until 3am on Friday and Saturday nights.
Wellington Street
Run by Abbeydale Brewery and refurbished in 2016, this is somewhere to sit back and chill out with a decent beer. An extensive choice of real ales on handpump and craft beers on keg means there is always something interesting to try. Open until 2am every day.
Look out for more late night beers next month!
Andy Cullen 
The buyer of such pubs may be a local brewery wanting to open their own tap, for example the Nags Head between Loxley and Bradfield was sold by Greene King to Bradfield Brewery who run it very successfully as a rural community pub with reasonably priced beer and simple home cooking. They may be a property investor who buy the pub then rent it out to an operator – such as to some extent the Rutland Arms in Sheffield City Centre where the top floor was converted into a flat and the owner rents out pub and flat separately.
We also have a number of examples of individuals or small businesses that established pub operators buying it to run as a pub and successfully do so – examples including Shakespeare’s on Gibraltar Street in Sheffield or the Victoria in Dronfield – as well as successful pubs that are bought by property men who have seen potential in the pub as a going concern and employ a manager to run it for them or as a joint venture, such as the Dronfield Arms.
There are also cases where the only intention is to demolish the pub to release the land to build something else on – for example the Bradway Hotel was sold to Sainsburys who built one of their local stores on the site and the Horns in Holmesfield now has a housing development where the pub once stood.
The final category is the one currently of most interest though. This is where a pub is bought with a long term idea of either converting the pub to another use or redeveloping the site, but choose to give it chance as a pub first but have a plan B if it fails. In some cases they run the pub themselves, in others it is rented out to a pub operator.
There have been a few recent examples around the Dronfield area. The Hearts of Oak at Dronfield Woodhouse was bought and rebranded as the Hearty Oak, the pub had three rooms which were run in a different style – tap room, dining room and function room and it was run as a family business. The success of this venture was somewhat mixed and the pub has since been demolished with housing built on the site.
The Three Tuns at Hallowes, just outside Dronfield town centre was bought by the owners of Ayeshas restaurant and leased out, it was run as a community pub with lots of real ales and home cooked food, it also acted as a bit of a brewery tap – first for Spire Brewery under its initial ownership, more recently for the Drone Valley Community Brewery. The quiz nights, music sessions, charity events and Sunday lunches have always attracted a good following, however it has recently closed and is expected to be converted into an Indian restaurant.
This takes us to the final example. The Butchers Arms at Marsh Lane (near Eckington, Ridgeway and Apperknowle on bus routes 15A, 50A, 50B and 252) which was sold to a private investor who has applied for planning permission to convert the property into a shop on the ground floor and residential use upstairs. However it is currently leased out to the Hop & Hook Pub Company, a joint venture between Ade Cole of Pigeon Fishers Brewery and Dave Hemstock of RAW Brewery. If they make a success of it as a pub it will stay as a pub, should it fail and close then it gets converted to a shop and or housing and is lost as a pub.
The Butchers Arms is a comfortable pub with a range of real ales – many of them locally brewed – along with a range of wines and spirits plus coffee. There is also a simple food offering on certain days (for example pie night, fish & chip night, Sunday roast) which is due to be developed into a full menu in the new year. It also has an outdoor area for when the weather improves – until then it is about the fire and cosy corners inside!
Although it is on a main road and has a regular daytime bus service, there is no public transport in the evening – and little prospect of that improving given the funding cuts from Derbyshire County Council. However there are buses to Eckington or trams to White Lane, both just a short taxi ride away. The pub also has a car park if you can recruit a designated driver!
The Butchers Arms opens Tuesday to Friday at 4pm and at midday on Saturday and Sunday, closing at 11pm every day (11:30pm Fri/Sat). You can find out more on their Facebook page (search for Hop and Hook).
So here is a bit of a deal from a pub campaigning perspective. The manager there under the guidance of Ade and Dave is making an effort to provide a nice pub with attractions including good beer, food and music, for it to survive as a pub it needs more customers, so please make the effort to get up there (and to other similar pubs too), enjoy it and spend some money!
Andy Cullen 
Bierkeller
So far the three cask lines have mainly come from Blue Bee Brewery and Neepsend Brewery, but have also included the Sheffield debut of Three Sods Brewery from London – but brewed by a Sheffield lad!
There are three keg lines showcasing craft beers from both the UK and Europe along with stiff gins and fine wine available. They currently have Tripel Karmeliet on their revolving Belgian line, Berliner Pilsner on the other and Magic Rock soon to make an apprearance. There’s also a real cider on hand pull.
Follow the Dorothy Pax page on Facebook for information about their various food options which so far have included wood fired pizza and jerk chicken. They have yet to build a kitchen, so everything they cook is on oak and ash. Live music also features some weekends and the venue can be hired for private functions and events.
Josh Jepson 
