Inn Brief

The Queens Ground at Hillsborough has introduced real ale and real cider following the installation of three handpumps on the bar. The range is not finalised yet as they are establishing what sells well, however expect the more popular local beers such as Bradfield Farmers Blonde to feature. The Blue Stoops on Dronfield High Street is in the process of being sold by Enterprise Inns to Forum Café Bars Group. Work to repair the building ready for winter is due to start soon with a full refurbishment planned in the new year before opening in the Spring. It will follow a similar format to venues such as the Broadfield on Abbeydale Road, the British Oak in Mosborough and the York in Broomhill – smart yet relaxed atmosphere, bar area with quality drinks including cask ales, craft beers and classic cocktails and a restaurant area with a simple menu of good chef prepared food. The Manor House Hotel, also on Dronfield High Street, have given their bar a refurbishment with a new rustic feel. Abbeydale Moonshine continues to be available on handpump. The Red House on Solly Street in Central Sheffield is due to reopen on 22nd September following a refurbishment. The new management is Craig and Marie Harris, who have previously had stints running the Castle Inn at Bradway and Peak Hotel in Castleton. The bar will feature five real ales from local breweries and premium lagers in the form of Estrella and Budvar. Craft keg is on the way too. Deli style food will be served in the daytime in the form of sandwiches and bar tapas. Coffee will also be available. It will be the end of November when the extension at the Rising Sun at Nethergreen will be finished and the managers, Ryan and Nicole have covered the temporary wall with beer mats. Along with the ones on display in the other room which has been refurbished, Ryan believes that there is over a thousand. If you want to come and count them, there is a choice of thirteen hand pulled beers to choose from while you take on this task. The Punchbowl at Crookes is now part of the Reet Ales Pub family alongside the Rutland Arms, Closed Shop, Three Tuns and Blue Bee Brewery. It reopens on 19th September following refurbishment and as well as a pub bar with real ale from Blue Bee plus guests it will be home to ‘Reet Pizza’, serving quality freshly prepared pizzas and great beer to wash it down! Ashley Sheppard is the new manager at the University Arms who advises the pub offers an excellent range of local breweries on offer – permanently featuring ‘Acorn’, ‘Welbeck’, ‘Kelham Island’ and ‘Thornbridge’ supported by 4 other guests ales from local and national brewers at all times. The pub also offer home cooked food Monday – Saturday,  boasts a proper beer garden, conservatory and function rooms, all coming together to make a great venue for both families and ale enthusiasts – and of course students! Due to a technical issue, the Dronfield entries are missing from the 2016 Good Beer Guide. The pubs missing are the Travellers Rest in Apperknowle, Coach & Horses in Dronfield and Rutland Arms in Holmesfield. Details of these pubs can be found at www.whatpub.com. The Ladybower Inn has reportedly been sold to Batemans Brewery. Peddlers Night Market takes place on Arundel Street again this month on 2nd and 3rd October with stalls featuring all sorts of street food, entertainment, stalls and craft beer. C&H_POTS15 Dronfield & District CAMRA sub branch have presented their Pub of the Season award to the Coach & Horses in Dronfield. Dronfield Chairman Rob Barwell wasn’t available, so Sheffield & District Chairman Andy Cullen did the honours, presenting the certificate to manager James Broad and team, who also thanked the kitchen staff and customers for helping make the pub what it was. Horse and Jockey, Unstone. –  Landlord John continues to maintain sales of Timothy Taylor’s Boltmaker. At the time of writing (4th September), the price was £2.20 per pint. This will eventually increase to £2.60. DSCN0045 DSCN0055 (2) Traveller’s Rest, Apperknowle –  On 22nd August the Traveller’s hosted Gold Wedding celebrations for Ruth and Roger Hepworth of CAMRA’s Dronfield Branch. A magnificent afternoon buffet was followed by Pie and Peas in the evening. Music was provided by pub regulars The Hippersippi Jazz Band and choice ales were on tap.  

Hop Hideout

Abbeydale’s award winning specialist beer shop Hop Hideout launched their Tasting Room in August, enabling customers to sit in the intimate space and enjoy the wide range of bottled beers and ciders on offer from across the globe. The Tasting Room will be open from noon to close, Tuesday to Sunday and in addition to the varied bottled selection, customers can enjoy a selection of two draught beers via the dedicated tap facility. Hop Hideout stocks over 400 beers, with a larger dedicated range covering the UK, in addition to countries like America, Holland, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Italy and Spain. Key to Hop Hideout’s success has been to search out and find interesting beers and offer a rotating range including a dedicated cider and perry offering. The two draught keg lines have featured beers from Yorkshire favourites Magic Rock to hard to find breweries like Kent’s Alphastate and experimental Swede’s Omnipollo. The ciders and perries are all sourced to showcase the rich variety produced across the UK, with over twenty-five different varieties. Oliver’s from Hereford, Somerset’s Sheppy’s, Welsh producers Ty Gwyn and Thistly Cross in Scotland all nestle in the fridges. Jules Gray, one half of Hop Hideout, shared, “The intimate space and ever-changing beer selection makes this a great space to visit, discover and enjoy a beer. We’re starting to plan events in too. We have the fantastic young London brewery Brew By Numbers hosting a tasting in September, Yorkshire’s Brass Castle in October and an exciting evening as part of Sheffield’s Off The Shelf festival with one of the UK’s top beer writer’s – Pete Brown”.

The Hop

The Hop reopened following refurbishment on Friday 14th August (with a number of guests including Sheffield CAMRA branch members invited to a preview night the day before). In the public areas the refurbishment is subtle yet effective creating a much lighter, brighter and welcoming atmosphere, however the main bulk of the work has been moving the cellar and installing a proper full size kitchen featuring an American BBQ oven. The food offer is no longer the pie hole, it is now operated by ‘The BBQ Collective’.

New Barrack Tavern

The New Barrack Tavern are holding something of a live music festival over the August bank holiday weekend with bands on from 7:30pm on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday and stages both indoors and outdoors in use. Entry is free. The monthly Sunday comedy night also continues, the next being on the 6th September. This is a ticketed event. We’ve been told by Kev and Steph to expect a big announcement from them soon, unfortunately it wasn’t made in time for this issue going to press but rumour has it that the changes may involve having more guest beers…

Focus on…. Mitchell’s Wines

Dennis Mitchell opened his butchers shop at Meadowhead in 1935 to service the new build residential area of Meadowhead and Norton. In 1963 the shop was enlarged to create an off-licence section or beer off as they were then known. John Mitchell joined the family firm in 1968 and started to drive the drink side of the business forward, it was very much returnable bottles in those days. The biggest seller being Tennents Gold Label barley wine sold in nips. Guinness was bottles everywhere, we bought ours from Skinner Rook and Chambers as they used Dublin Guinness, our customers preferred this rather than Park Royal London. Other popular ales included Tetley’s family ale, Whitbread Forest Brown, John Smiths Magnet & Mansfield Ale. Our best seller was Shipstone Gold Star sold in flagons because it was the cheapest. Well wind the clock on 50 years and Mitchells are still there, having picked up many awards over the years including Courage Beer Retailer of the year back in 1994, Winner of Off Licence News Wine Merchant of the Year twice, Spirits & Beer Retailer as well as coming runner up to Selfridges on Oxford Street as Drinks retailer of the year 2015. What makes this shop so special? Well within its 3000 sq foot of floor space lay a labyrinth of drink departments as well as the North of England’s best fine Havana cigar selection. The biggest hit of the last 2 years is the rise in popularity of Whisky and Gin. We are also now seeing a major rise in Craft & Artisan Beers. We currently stock over 500 real ale and ciders including 26 from Thornbridge Brewery alone from which we started out with just 2 core ranges Jaipur and Kipling. We have a dedicated fridge to cool selected ales down to between 10c and 14c for that perfect serve. Wherever possible, we try to support local breweries and stock over 100 varieties of Yorkshire/Derbyshire ales. Along with cider from Holmfirth and Tadcasters very own Samuel Smiths. Looking further afield we have great beers from surrounding counties and have a great selection of quality ales from as far as Scotland and Cornwall. We also specialise in coeliac approved beers from Wold Top Brewery along with other Gluten free, Organic & fair trade products. We always have an ever changing £1 guest ale value offer. So next time you’re passing Meadowhead there’s no excuse to not call in Mitchells.

Inn Brief & Beery Bits

Inn Brief In addition to the Castle at Bolsterstone, John and Tracy, have recently also taken on the Green Dragon at Thurgoland. They have been at the Castle for some months and have built up, what was, a declining trade. Three handpumps are in use on a daily basis, usually including beer from Bradfield and Robinsons. The new managers at the Castle Inn, Bradway are Mark & Gillian. Abbeydale Moonshine is now the regularly available beer, usually alongside Bradfield Farmers Blonde and a guest bitter. Food is now available again served Tuesday to Saturday 12:00-15:30 and 17:00-20:30 plus Sunday lunches served 12:00-15:00. Live music features one Saturday a month and there may be a second entertainment night added per month soon. The Angel at Holmesfield now has four beers on handpump: The two regulars are Abbeydale Moonshine and Chatsworth Bakewell Best Bitter. These are backed up by two guest ales. At time of visit these were “Wards” Best Bitter and Wychwood Hobgoblin Gold. The Horse & Jockey at Unstone has introduced real ale, at last report this was Timothy Taylors Boltmaker at a bargain introductory price of £2.20 a pint. The Inn at Troway now has a guest beer alongside the Thornbridge offerings, with the latest guest at time of writing being Bradfield Farmers Brown Cow. The Peacock at Owler Bar has reopened following a minor refurbishment. A framed document on the wall of the Palm Tree, Walkley lists the landlords of the pub from Joseph Smith in 1856 to David Harrison 2000 to 2015. Jo now runs the pub and David who lives nearby still calls in. The pub is open plan with a neat and tidy beer garden and play area at the back and a smoking area at the front and is child and dog friendly. On Palm Street the pub is served by the number 52 and 95 bus routes. Jo says she will continue with free snooker on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday is open mic night with a light buffet provided. Saturday there is live music in the evening and Sunday is Fun Day. Tetley Bitter and Farmer’s Blonde are on the bar at a very reasonable price. The Ball Inn, Crookes has had the old wooden decking replace with stone flags and a stylish stainless steel and glass surround. Having 14 hand pumps there is always a good choice of beers and ciders. The Red Deer on Pitt Street, Sheffield City Centre, has increased the discount offered on pints of real ale to card carrying CAMRA members to 10%. Confirmation of news from the Wellington at Shalesmoor is still awaited at the time of going to press. It will soon be under new ownership. Watch this space! Work has finally started on the refurbishment of the Ship Inn at Shalesmoor, following a period of closure since Greene King Brewery sold the pub to the pub company that now owns it. It is expected that the refurbishment will be a simple and sympathetic one, preserving the character of the pub but making it a bit less ‘worn out’. A date for reopening hasn’t yet been announced but it is expected to be late September. Beery Bits North Union Brewing Co, the beer business set up by Iain Kenny who previously brewed for Kelham Island Brewery, may soon be getting premises! Currently North Union is cuckoo brewing at Harthill and selling only bottled beers, however Iain is looking at moving his own brewery into a railway arch near the Victoria Hotel in Sheffield and expanding into craft keg. Worksop and Retford Brewery – Local Sheffield CAMRA members, Dave Pickersgill and John Stocks are giving their illustrated talk, ‘The Worksop and Retford Brewery,’ at Worksop Library on Wednesday 16th.September @ 14:00. The associated e-book is available on Kindle. Travel news Stagecoach Supertram are now back running normally following a summer of works to replace the track in a number of areas, to celebrate this along with the 21st anniversary of the tram system opening there are cheap fares being offered on the trams and the dedicated link buses to Stocksbridge, Stannington and Killamarsh – a maximum single fare of £1.70, day ticket at £3 and weekly ticket at £9.80.  These offers run from Saturday 29th August to Sunday 25th October. Additionally there is a £1 all day travel offer on Sundays in August with free car parking at park & ride sites also offered on those Sundays. On the bus front a consultation on changes to the bus network took place during July, this is due to be implemented from 1st November – so advance warning – look out for the new routes, timetables and tickets coming soon!

Dronfield Arms

The Dronfield arms is holding beer festival 28-30 August. There will be an outside bar all weekend featuring real ale and real cider. We will be celebrating the launch of our own Hopjacker Brewery with beer brewed on site at the Dronfield Arms. We expect to have the first Hopjacker beers ready to sample. The brewery can be viewed via a large piece of structural glass in the floor of the main bar. We look forward to welcoming CAMRA members and showcasing our new brewery. Sat 29th August is the main day of the beer festival when it will feature: – food all day from the Craft Pizza Company – FREE kids face painting 4-7pm – LIVE music from 8pm

Coach & Horses, Dronfield

A new free live music event is set to burst on the scene in Dronfield this August. Coachstock, will be hosted by the Coach and Horses pub on August 15, running from 12 noon-midnight and promises to be a great family day out with a line-up of live bands, craft stalls, face painting, kids’ activities and wide variety of food and drink on offer – including cask and craft keg beers from Thornbridge Brewery plus an external festival bar. Musician, Elaine Dennison from the Derbyshire folk band, Blind Badger, is helping co-ordinate the music line-up which will be made up entirely of local bands. “The Coach is very much about highlighting local talent and giving them a platform” With the music line-up yet to be confirmed, there will also be up to six cask and four craft keg beers on offer. Diners can enjoy home-cooked, locally-sourced food from the pub’s own ‘Chariot’s Kitchen’, with take-away and BBQ options also available. For more information, contact The Coach and Horses, Sheffield Road, Dronfield on 01246 413269 or visit: www.mycoachandhorses.co.uk

Sheffield ACV update

Sheffield and District CAMRA has piloted a national CAMRA scheme which encourages branches to nominate pubs in their area as Assets of Community Value (ACV). The scheme is now open to all CAMRA branches. Each branch can use this assistance to nominate up to ten pubs/month. Once a pub is ACV listed, planning permission is required for any change of use or demolition We have nominated eleven pubs, ten in Sheffield and one in the Derbyshire Dales. The pubs are a mix of heritage, suburban, city centre and rural. Currently only one Sheffield pub, the Castle (Bolsterstone) has ACV status. In our wider ‘district,’ the Angel (Spinkhill) and the Anglers Rest (Bamford) also have ACV status CAMRA, nationally, completed the LA paperwork, checked ownership, obtained ground plans and paid the £6 fee. After checking the details and adding more information, we then submitted the completed documentation to the appropriate Local Authority. We now await their decisions. Once the Local Authority has ruled on these applications, we will review our position and may submit more pubs for ACV status. More information is available at: CAMRA: http://www.camra.org.uk/list-your-local Sheffield City Council: https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/in-your-area/report_request/community-assets.html Derbyshire Dales: http://www.derbyshiredales.gov.uk/community-a-living/community-rights/community-right-to-bid Thanks for assistance: Paul Crofts, Andy Cullen, John Dowd, Mike Hensman, Paul Holmshaw, Kate Major and from CAMRA HQ, Faye Grima – Dave Pickersgill Update – the Plough at Crosspool has now gained ACV status following a local campaign.