Closed Shop, Commonside
Food is back on the menu at the Closed Shop. Following an extensive refurbishment of the pub’s kitchen facilities, Stancill Brewery has appointed local chef Rose Heggie to develop brand new food offerings. Drawing upon her previous experience working at some of Sheffield’s best-known restaurants including Whirlow Hall Farm, The Summer House and The Rising Sun, Rose has pioneered a brand new menu featuring locally sourced produce.
To mark the reopening of The Closed Shop’s kitchen, pub manager Hayley McPhie is offering locals the chance to see the fruits of their labour on the menu and has teamed up with local allotment owners to swap vegetables for beer vouchers.
Hayley said: “Our new menu is a celebration of the best food available within Sheffield. Our meats are carefully chosen from local farmers and we use local producers for our fruit and vegetables. Working in an allotment can be hard, thirsty work and we wanted to reward the efforts of local growers and hit on the idea of ‘vegetales’ giving enthusiastic amateur gardeners the chance to see their produce on the menu.
“We provide allotment owners with beer vouchers for the surplus produce they have grown. It’s a win-win all round – gardeners are able to enjoy a beer, surplus vegetables aren’t wasted and everything is grown close to the pub, making it good for the environment as all the allotments are in walking distance.”
More information about the Vegetales scheme is available from members of staff. Food is served daily from 12pm–10pm Mon–Sat and Sunday lunches are available from 12pm onwards.
Following a lengthy negotiation with owners Punch Taverns and meeting with the local community group, Tom and Adam received the keys to The Closed Shop at the end of August. Behind the bar, additional hand pumps have been added, increasing the range of hand pulled beers to ten, which will include a selection of changing guest beers as well as a selection of Stancill beers. Additional craft beer lines have also been installed and a selection of more than 30 gins and whiskies will also be available. The pub’s kitchen is currently being refurbished and is due to re-open in the next few weeks.
A number of regular events are planned to take place, including the return of the fiercely competitive Closed Shop quiz, which will take place every Wednesday with Jam Nights, food and drink evenings and after work drinks specials planned to be added in the future. The pub will be managed by experienced manager Hayley McPhie, who was responsible for overseeing the re-opening of the Norfolk Arms, Grenoside, which has been run by Stancill since November 2016 and the brewery is calling on former staff who worked at The Closed Shop to get in touch.
Thomas Gill, Managing Director, Stancill Brewery said: “The Closed Shop is a special pub for both Adam and I. When we heard that the pub had been forced to close unexpectedly we decided to contact Punch Taverns and see whether we could secure the future of a pub which we’d both spent many happy hours in during our student years.
“We’re hoping to replicate the winning formula which we’ve achieved in our other pubs in Sheffield, combining a changing selection of drinks, building a friendly and relaxing atmosphere where friends can meet and socialise and perhaps most importantly of all, placing the pub at the very heart of the local community.”
The Closed Shop will open from 2pm-12am Monday – Saturday and 2pm-11pm on Sundays. 
The ‘old oak room’ is a fine example of a 17th century panelled room with vine trail plaster frieze and enriched cross beam ceiling; if it was situated in a tourist hotspot, paying customers would visit on a daily basis. We find it difficult to see how the suggested conversion of the building could do anything but harm this historic part of our culture.
Carbrook Hall is also one of only eleven Sheffield pubs which have ACV (Asset of Community Value) status. Hence, we continue to look forward to the owner putting forward a comprehensive repair and restoration plan that meets the approval of Historic England, Sheffield planners and crucially, the communities that use it.
Dave Pickersgill 
The terrazzo flooring which flows from the entrance lobby indicates the original floor plan. There is a leaded ‘Ward’s Fine Malt Ales’ window and a distinctive exterior sign with the same wording. In earlier days, the pub name was over the door, in a similar style (see 1982 photo).
A 1946 plan (Hadfield Cawkwell, Sheffield) indicates that the rear room was split into two, the right-hand ‘Parlour’ having a separate door (opposite the bar). ‘Service’ and ‘Tap Room’ (front left) are both in their current positions. This plan has 1980 amendments which indicate the position of gaming machines. A 1962 plan (Hadfield, Cawkwell & Davidson, Rotherham for Messrs. S.H. Ward & Co.Ltd.) shows a new counter for the bar and the removal of a screen into the rear left Public Bar.
A December 1981 plan (Sackville Design Co.) shows the rear rooms changing into a single ‘Lounge’ and the conversion of a kitchen and wash room into a smaller ‘catering kitchen’ and internal toilets. This is repeated on a 1984 plan (Jenkinson Palmer & Associated, Rotherham).
Dave Pickersgill and Mick Slaughter 
Katy added: “We are all incredibly passionate about beer and wanted to make this passion our main focus for this new venue. This is a dream project for me, as a longtime CAMRA supporter and a craft beer lover, I was thrilled to be offered the challenge of planning, designing and running The Albion.”
The team already have plans for the future to extend their large beer garden and install a kitchen. Katy said: “We are so lucky to have a very enthusiastic team who all want to work towards a successful bar and we are all excited to keep moving the venue forward and ensure that our patrons have the best possible experience!”
The Albion is open from 2pm til 12am every day (with longer opening hours at weekend) and will offer 50p off all casks for CAMRA members.
Katy Streets