Across Sheffield there are dozens, probably hundreds, of locations which at one stage in their lives were pubs. Many of these relics play a part in the fabric of what has evolved from their change of use. However, there remain many examples of dead pubs which are closed: boarded-up or, possibly, derelict.
We asked in March BM for examples of such pubs – our list has grown. Thanks to all who supplied names, especially Pitsmoor Pete for his extensive listing.
Some have will have closed through lack of custom while others are mere pawns in the development of a property empire. Some are eye-sores: ideally they should be demolished and replaced by low-cost housing. However, many offer the possibility of regeneration.
For example, The Boardwalk, the venue where the Clash played their first gig, was in the press recently. An enterprising partnership wanted to take it on, but, we believe, were thawed by a combination of legalise and no sense of urgency from the owners. This is a perfect example of a pub that has fallen out of favour, but has a wealth of goodwill among Sheffield pub goers that could see it return to the thriving venue it once.
There are many similar examples: the Matilda has slowly decayed since closure over ten years ago: the building is in a regenerating area of Sheffield. Why is it not open and thriving? Outside the city centre, there are many examples: the Fairfield has slowly decayed since closure, the Plough at Sandygate is been allowed to slowly rot and the Durham Ox and Ye Olde Harrow by Park Hill are both in total disrepair, yet now within a growing area of student accommodation. As circumstances change, what was an unviable pub in an unpopular area, can become a much different business proposition than when it last traded.
Some derelict sites offer the potential to become ‘Phoenix pubs:’ pubs which like the Kelham Island Tavern and the Rutland have, under new management, revitalised themselves. We believe that sufficient energy exists in the ‘City of Makers’ to ensure that some derelict pubs can rise from the ashes. However, this requires a willingness on the part of their owners. Sadly, many pub companies seem more concerned with generating as much as possible from a change of use instead of allowing their pubs to evolve into the 21st. Century. It also seems reasonable to expect Sheffield City Council to offer some support to local businesses wishing to take on such ventures.
The pubs quoted above are but a small selection of the possibilities available. Hopefully, these, and other pubs, have not yet seen their last pint. The phrase “Use Them Or Lose Them” may seem a cliche but it really is true, and we’re sure that CAMRA members across the city would be only too ready to help any reopening pub by making regular visits.
The following Sheffield Pubs are currently closed, but offer the possibility of re-opening:
1. Arbourthorne Hotel, Arbourthorne
2. Ball Inn, Darnall
3. Ball, Myrtle Road
4. Barrow Boys, Shude Hill
5. The Boardwalk (Black Swan), Snig Hill
6. The Botanical, Ecclesall Road
7. Brtiannia, Worksop Road
8. Burgoyne Arms, Langsett Road
9. Cannon Hotel, 30 Castle Street
10. Carbrook Hall
11. Carlisle, Carlisle Street
12. Cherry Tree, Carterknowle Road
13. Closed Shop, Commonside
14. Cocked Hat, Worksop Road
15. Crown, Neepsend Lane
16. Cuthbert Bank, 164 Langsett Road
17. Dog and Partridge, Attercliffe Road
18. Durham Ox
19. Fairfield, Neepsend Lane
20. George and Dragon, Beighton
21. Hare and Hounds, Stannington
22. Hop, West One
23. Market Tavern, Exchange Street
24. Matilda, City Centre
25. Middlewood Tavern
26. New Inn, Duke Street
27. Olde Harrow, 80 Broad Street
28. Parson Cross Hotel
29. Pheasant, Barnsley Road
30. Plough, Crospool
31. Punchbowl, Crookes
32. Queens Hotel, Scotland Street
33. Red House, Solly Street
34. Red Lion, Holly Street
35. Rock House, Rock Street
36. Royal Oak, Chapeltown
37. Sportsman, Attercliffe Road
38. Star and Garter, Winter Street
39. Stockroom, Leadmill Road
40. Three Tuns, Silver Street Head
41. Turf Tavern, Handsworth Road
42. Under the Boardwalk, City Centre
Paul Crofts and Dave Pickersgill
Millhouses is an area of Sheffield off the radar to many real ale drinkers, yet there are a number of pubs serving good beer all within an easy wander of one another and there are plenty of buses running out there!
The Millhouses
address: 951 Abbeydale Road, S7 2QD
buses: 97,98,218
located on the main Abbeydale Road, this is a traditional looking pub on outside but has taken on a new lease of life as a gastropub inside with a seperate dining room area – there is still a bar with drinkers seating however and a small selection of real ales is available.
Robin Hood
Address: Millhouses Lane, S7 2HB
buses: 97, 98, 218
Part of the Ember Inns chain, this is a large pub with many handpumps on the bar, a CAMRA members discount at certain times and a value food menu. Despite being big and part of a national chain, it is comfortable and has friendly staff.
Wagon & Horses
Address: 57 Abbeydale Road South, S7 2QQ
buses: 82, 97, 98, 218
Situated alongside Millhouses Park, this is a long, thin, stone built pub fronting onto the main road. Part of the pub was converted from an 18th century farmhouse! Given its location next to the park in can be busy when the weather is nice! The pub is now owned by True North Brewery and is split into two parts – the pub side where you can enjoy beers from True North as well as a selection of artisan gins and other nice drinks; and the restaurant side where the food offering varies by time of day – breakfasts and brunches, lunches & snacks and dinners – all freshly cooked.
The Alehouse
Address: 187 Fraser Road
buses: 86, 96
A community pub located on the housing estate off Archer Road, near Sainsburys. A more down to earth and friendly venue than some of the others but with impeccable standards. A changing range of six real ales are available, a mixture of local favourites and interesting guests, all at very reasonable prices. A simple menu of home cooked food is served on Friday evenings, it is advisable to phone ahead and book if you wish to eat. There are also regular events including live music, quiz nights and more.
And not a pub but…
Archer Road Beer Stop
Address: Archer Road
Buses: 86, 96
A small corner shop off licence established for many years specialising in real ales and craft beers, featuring handpumps on the counter to pour cask ale to take away in plastic carry out containers. If you enjoy what the likes of Hop Hideout and Turners do with American style Growler fills of craft keg beers then you’ll probably also enjoy the longer established ‘old skool’ at Archer Road!
More information on pubs can be found on CAMRA’s pub database website www.whatpub.com. Members can also use the site to submit updates and rate their beer.
The Old Queens Head on Pond Hill (which won our April Pub of the Month) now has a guest ale pump, enabling them to alternate the Thwaites seasonals with interesting local beers.
Brew Foundation is looking at converting the unit on Ecclesall Road that was previously Eccy Booze off licence into a micropub and craft beer bottle shop.
Reet Ale Pubs has ceased trading, leading to the closure of the Three Tuns (Sheffield City Centre), Closed Shop (Commonside) and Punchbowl (Crookes). All three were pub company leases and are expected to reopen under new management as soon as possible. We understand the Tuns’ Wednesday quiz has temporarily relocated to the Dog & Partridge. The end of Reet Ale Pubs does not effect the Rutland Arms or Blue Bee Brewery, both had previously changed hands.
By the time this appears in print, the Gardeners Rest at Neepsend will open under the new ownership of the Community Society that crowdfunded to buy it. See elsewhere in this issue for their advert!
Not in our patch but may be of interest – you can get there on the 53/53a bus from Sheffield – is a new craft beer bar & shop on Mill Street in Clowne called Heist. You can find out more about them by visiting their website – www.heistcraft.com.
The former Southsea pub in Broomhill has reopened as ‘The Blues Bar‘, a Jamaican bar, grill and music venue. It isn’t really a beer venue – the rum punch appears to be the way to go here – but good to see the venue trading and doing something a little different. You can find out more via their Facebook page.
In late March, following the passing of an amendment in the House of Lords, Parliament agreed an amendment to the Neighbourhood Planning Bill which removes permitted development (PD) rights for the change of use or demolition of pubs. The Government is supporting a measure to close a planning loophole in England which has allowed pubs to be demolished or converted without a planning application. Previously, communities had to go through the bureaucratic and flawed process of obtaining an ACV listing. The likely implementation date is July.
The Government’s decision will bring a halt to developers exploiting loopholes and will give communities the right to have a say in the future of their pubs. The decision will not prevent the development of pubs, but will require developers to apply for planning permission, allowing for members of the local community to express their opinions as part of that process.
The changes remove the PD rights to change the use of premises from A4 (drinking establishments) to A3 (restaurants/cafes), A2 (financial and professional services offices) or A1 (shops). The right to demolish drinking establishments is also removed. The changes also introduce a new mixed A4/A3 use class, to cover premises used both as pubs and restaurants. CAMRA planning experts have examined this closely and find nothing to fear; planning permission will still be needed to move from this new mixed-use class to any other class.
CAMRA Chief Executive Tim Page said: “This is a fantastic victory, the result of the work of thousands of local campaigners and CAMRA members who have been calling for an end to the loopholes in existing legislation. This change delivers real and robust protection to valued community pubs.”
In addition, our repeated comments that Sheffield City Council (SCC) are gold-plating the ACV process have also been admitted by SCC. As part of their documentation which announced the news that the University Arms had achieved ACV status, SCC warned against approving applications for “any venue where food and drink was consumed by customers in a welcoming environment.” They went on to state: “Such a low bar would make it difficult to decide what should not be an ACV.”
By way of comparison, Leeds have accepted 97% of ACV applications for pubs (33/34), Baintree 83% (10/12), North Hertfordshire 94% (17/18): Sheffield have accepted 41% (9/22).
Pending SCC ACV decisions are the Cherry Tree (Carterknowle Road) (decision, due 14/04/17) and Carbrook Hall (17/04/17). Hopefully, these will be the last ACV applications that will need to made for Sheffield pubs.
The next step is to campaign to change the SCC Local Plan. We can resist unwanted planning applications much more effectively if Local Planning Authorities have strong policies protective of community pubs in their Plans.
– Dave Pickersgill, Pub Heritage Officer
The Rutland Arms pub business is now under new ownership! The lease has moved from Reet Ale Pubs to a company owned by Chris Bamford and Kate Major, who previously managed Shakespeare’s and the Three Tuns respectively.
All the same staff are working at the pub, both on the bar and in the kitchen – including managers Pete & Heather – so major changes aren’t expected, more a gradual building on the established foundation of good beer, food and atmosphere already found at the Rutty.
Chris and Kate plan to continue to offer Blue Bee as their regular beers but we can expect to see a more varied guest beer selection on both cask and keykeg. For Sheffield Beer Week a tap takeover was held with Norwegian brewery Lervig.
The Wagon & Horses by Millhouses park has now reopened under the new ownership of True North Brewery.
The pub has had a refurbishment but no substantial change as its already a great building! The venue is however now split into a seperate dining end and drinkers end in a similar fashion to many of True North’s other venues.
Another key change is the kitchen is now much more fresh food focused than the Wagon’s previous incarnation as part of Greene King’s Flame Grill chain.
The pub opens at 8:30am serving breakfasts and a brunch and sandwich menu is served through until 4pm. Pizzas and burgers are also available from midday. Come 5pm the evening meals menu kicks in, as well as pizzas and burgers there are dishes featuring more classic cooking such as Shepard’s Pie, Chipotle Pork & King Prawn Skewers, Sea Bass, Steak, Griddled Calf’s Liver and more.
The bar opens from 10am with a range of real ales from True North Brewery and an extensive gin selection!
Buses 82, 97, 98 and 218 get you there or the Millhouse Park car park is close by.
The birth of a Sty-lish beer
There’s no ham-fisted attempts at pig jokes here!
Local brewery Exit 33 Brewing has joined forces with Broomhill micropub The Itchy Pig to create their very own beer, a beer with a twist in the tale.
Pete Roberts of Exit 33 said ‘The Itchy Pig owner Ted is from Kent and completely swapped career to open his own take on the micropub, just like I did when I opened the brewery – so, it seemed a good fit to collaborate on a beer together.
Ted and Vanders trotted along to the brewery and spent the day creating a pale ale dubbed ‘Sty PA’
The pub guys where itching to brew a hoppy IPA style beer so after an early mash in we sat down for a quick ‘Pignic’ before adding large hop additions to the kettle. ‘No porkies, this is a great beer! All in all, it was a great day and nobody felt boar-ed or was left dis-grunt-led by the experience.
Ok I’ll stop now,. Sty PA is 4.5% and available at the Itchy Pig Glossop Road.
A beer launch party is planned for Good Friday.
Pete Roberts, Exit 33 Brewing.
The Hillsborough Hotel on Langsett Road is hosting Wantsum Brewery from Canterbury as part of Sheffield Beer Week.
The Hillsborough will be their brewery tap from Wednesday 15 March until Saturday 18 March. Meet the Brewer, who is Simon Sandy-Hindmarch will be Thursday 16 march at 8pm, free of charge. The brewery got a silver medal at the SIBA national cask competition in 2016, and regional winners at SIBA Cask competition 2015 & 2016.
A CAMRA member attending a recent branch meeting suggested to much agreement that we ought to get our correspondents to help us pull together a list of derelict pubs. All are closed and not in the best condition, some are for sale and could yet reopen as pubs given the right investment, others just waiting for redevelopment.
So here are 15 examples our Pub Heritage Officer has come up with
1. Arbourthorne Hotel, Arbourthorne
2. Ball Inn, Darnall
3. The Boardwalk, Snig Hill, City Centre
4. The Botanical, Ecclesall Road
5. Burgoyne Arms, Langsett Road
6. Cannon Hotel, 30 Castle Street, City Centre
7. Cuthbert Bank, 164 Langsett Road
8. Fairfield, Neepsend Lane
9. Market Tavern, City Centre
10. Matilda, City Centre
11. Olde Harrow, 80 Broad Street
12. Queens Hotel, Scotland Street
13. Stockroom, Leadmill Road
14. Turf Tavern, Handsworth Road
15. Under the Boardwalk, Snig Hill, City Centre
This is not a complete list – please add others!
CAMRA and its members are currently lobbying MPs for a penny off duty on a pint of beer at the forthcoming budget to help pubs and brewers, additionally drinkers are being rallied across the country to apply to get their community pubs listed as assets of Community Value, which means that the community gets to have a say in any plans for a pub that closes to be turned into something else or demolished.
However there is a perfect storm on the horizon – business rates are being reviewed by cash strapped local authorities and being judged based on property values – so areas that have improved in the last few years will see taxes rocket and it is thought some pubs could see their rates rise by about 40% and in some examples triple.
Some examples in Sheffield that will see a hefty increase in business rates are the Sheffield Tap and the pubs around the Kelham Island district.
At the same time as the rates increase, there is also the introduction of the living wage scheme which is above the current minimum wage that many pub and bar workers earn. Of course I’m sure most of us wouldn’t begrudge the staff that serve us a living wage just so we can enjoy beer a few pence cheaper, however it all adds up for publicans!
According to press reports, the new business rates coupled with the increased payroll costs could add 5p to a pint of beer (plus VAT). However then there are increased costs for brewers to pass on to the pubs too…..
1. Arbourthorne Hotel, Arbourthorne
2. Ball Inn, Darnall
3. The Boardwalk, Snig Hill, City Centre
4. The Botanical, Ecclesall Road
5. Burgoyne Arms, Langsett Road
6. Cannon Hotel, 30 Castle Street, City Centre
7. Cuthbert Bank, 164 Langsett Road
8. Fairfield, Neepsend Lane
9. Market Tavern, City Centre
10. Matilda, City Centre
11. Olde Harrow, 80 Broad Street
12. Queens Hotel, Scotland Street
13. Stockroom, Leadmill Road
14. Turf Tavern, Handsworth Road
15. Under the Boardwalk, Snig Hill, City Centre
This is not a complete list – please add others!