On the last Friday in April a group of members set out on the first of what we hope will be regular trips into Derybshire to sample the delights of some of our rural pubs.
After a quick half in the Queens Head, Pond Street, we headed for our first destination, the Moon Inn at Stoney Middleton. The recent refurbishment looked good and it was nice to see the pub so busy at 7 o clock.
Next stop was the 3 Stags Heads in Wardlow Mires. Several members went for the Black Lurcher, produced specially for the pub by Abbeydale Brewery and it’s fair to say everyone enjoyed the real fire in the back room.
The Monsal Head Hotel followed, with its spectacular views of the viaduct. With some of us outside admiring the view, we managed to avoid overcrowding the Stables bar where several people were enjoying some appetising-looking meals.
A short walk down the road took us to the Packhorse Inn, where more fine looking food kept coming past us. A good selection of ales were on offer including quite a few from Thornbridge.
Then it was back on the bus for our penultimate stop, the Eyre Arms at Hassop and some excellent local beers from Peak Ales.
Lastly we called into the Grouse at Longshaw, a popular haunt with walkers. Beers available included Pedigree and Hobgoblin Gold. Sadly we were too late to sample any of their famous steak pie.
Amazingly enough the whole thing ran to time, thanks to Kate’s cajoling, and we were back at Sheffield interchange for 11, where a few of us sneaked in another drink before wending our way home.
The ticket price included entry into a raffle to win 6 bottles of beer kindly donated by Beer Central in Moor Markets. This was won by Kathy Clark, seen here collecting her prize from Sean at Beer Central.
Everyone agreed it was a great night, and we’ll be visiting other pubs in Derbyshire regularly throughout the year in support of our new Rural Pub of The year award.
Our next trip is on 1st July and will include the District Pub of the Year award presentation.
However, Sheffield City Council are still not working to their statutory obligations. Decisions on these applications were due on 30th.May, not over two weeks later.
A couple of weeks earlier, another Sheffield & District nomination, the Castle Inn (Bradway), also became an ACV. This application was originally submitted on 16th.June 2015. This delay, of almost a year, is a record – no other council has had an application for so long and not made a decision. The 2011 Localism Act states that Council have 8 weeks to determine ACV applications.
However, we are pleased to note that the formal decision record for the Castle (the Cabinet Member for Community Services and Libraries) states; ‘On the evidence provided the Property is popular with the people of Bradway and neighbouring communities, but also attracts a wider community ….. It is reasonable to consider local …….. to encompass not only the local ……. community of Bradway but also a large area that could conceivably encompass all of Sheffield itself. ‘ This emphasises a point that we have made in other applications that the ‘local community’ for a public house can encompass a considerable area.
This point is further emphasised in their report on the Sheffield Tap: ‘the Property is not only popular with rail travellers and neighbouring communities, but also attracts a wider community who visit the pub as part of “beer tourism”. The use by the neighbouring groups and to an extent rail travellers collectively identifies a “local community”. Therefore, it is a venue that attracts not only the local, in the normal sense of the word, community immediately in the railway station’s vicinity but also a national and arguably an international clientele.’
Following nomination by a local community group, The Plough (Crosspool) is registered as an ACV until 29th.June 2020. Recently Enterprise Inns closed the pub and are now believed to be leasing the building to Sainsburys. ACV status means that the Plough cannot be demolished or converted without planning permission, and also that local residents are given six months to buy the property if it is put on the market. A planning application for change of use has not yet been submitted. The Sandygate Road pub is opposite Hallam FC, the world’s oldest football ground. It is believed a pub has been on the site for 400 years.
In April, both the Three Tuns and the Cremorne gained ACV status. Sheffield and District CAMRA will continue to make further ACV applications to Sheffield City Council. We are expecting their next decision on one of our applications in early August.
Dave Pickersgill
Pub Heritage Officer, Sheffield and District CAMRA 
Previously a beerhouse, the Princess Royal was re-built of stone in the mid-1920s for Duncan Gilmour (architects: Hall & Fenton, Sheffield). The current-day external footprint of the pub is identical to this rebuild. The interior was changed in ~1949 when the small servery situated just inside the pub and an off sales to the right of the porch were removed; the present centrally situated servery added; internal toilets replaced the Kitchen and Scullery and the outside toilets were demolished.
Apart from the opening-up of the smoke room on the right (in the 1980s?) the interior is little changed for over 65 years with two (was three) rooms still including an active billiard room. It has a lovely set of Gilmour’s etched and frosted exterior windows, some with their Windsor Castle symbol.
The entrance lobby has a mosaic floor and a dado of 1920s tiling in cream and green and an inner door in a good screen. Across the front of the pub is the single room originally the Lounge & Dining Room on the left and the Smoke Room on the right but a small piece of wall including the door to the smoke room has been removed (in the 1980s?). The bar counter is 1949 with a modern top and has a row of tiles at the top. The back fitting is from ~1949 with some modernisation. There is some 1920s panelling one piece of wall on the left, in the former smoke room area on the right and also on the left there is 1920s fixed seating which has been re-fitted and boxed-in, and there is a modern tiled dado in the former off sales area and to the right of the servery.
At the rear left is the billiard room now with a three-quarter sized table (presumable replacing a full sized one). The fixed seating looks to be the original from the 1920s but has been re-fitted and boxed-in. There are three good 1920s baffles by doors – two by the door to the corridor created in ~1949 leading to the toilets. There is a small counter from ~1949 with a modern top. The fireplace looks like a replacement (or is it the ~1949 one?). There is also a Club Room above the billiard room
The first mention of the name, ‘Princess Royal’ in a Directory is in 1937. Also, in that year, the building was designated as a ‘Public House,’ not, as previously, a ‘Beerhouse.’ The first mention of a phone number is in a 1954 Directory. The pub has had the same phone number since then. Gilmours were taken over by Tetleys (Leeds) in 1954 – perhaps the telephone was installed at this point?
Thanks to Tim Knebel at Sheffield Archives for assistance in sourcing original floor plans.
Dave Pickersgill 
Keith Lilley, the Sheffield University Director of estates and facilities management, said he thought the chosen architect’s design ‘really hit the spot’ by incorporating the original house.
Pamela Freeman, managing director of Henderson’s, said: “Having the chance to be part of this project and see the building that was such an important part of our company’s history preserved and brought into public use is fantastic.”
Work on removing lean-to extensions to the building have started.