Category: Shops

Following the recent demise of Beer Central in Moor Market it looked like Sheffield had lost one of its longstanding bottle shops. However, ex-employee Vince Cooper has now taken over the premises and opened as Barrel & Anvil. We’re glad to say that Vince has been exceptionally busy since opening, but he found time to answer a few questions about setting up the business and his plans for the future.

First of all Vince, congratulations on opening Barrel & Anvil. Can you tell us a bit about your background?

I started at Pangolin in 2020 having never poured a pint and spent a year there whilst working for Morrisons. This was my job for 15 years, I spent more time down the beer aisle and hundreds of beers have been tried over the years. I did a little stint at Beer House S6 as manager which I loved. When Beer Central started looking for staff when reopening I got a job.

When did you first think of starting up?

As soon as the previous owners made myself and Ciara redundant I messaged the market team about taking on the unit myself. The seeds were planted before that as the owners were looking to sell and unfortunately for them we were way apart in terms of valuations.

Has anyone in particular been helpful whilst setting up that you would like to mention?

I guess the main person is Sean Clarke the original owner of Beer Central. He’s been very helpful the last 4 months, always there for me and still is. Debbie from Neepsend Brew Co has been a good ear too. Matt from The Bear also gave me some wise advice that’ll stay with me.

Why take over the Beer Central site, rather than looking for new premises?

The Moor Market still has fantastic footfall, there’s 70,000 students around the city centre, lots of city workers who are interested in beer, and the traditional ale fans flock to the market for their beer if supping at home.

Everyone was gutted when Beer Central closed its doors, you ask some of the other traders and one of the most popular questions was “will it reopen as a beer shop?”

I spoke to family and they were like ‘give it a shot’, so here we are.

What will you do differently to the previous owners?

 Have beer on the shelves and try to cater to as many folks as possible. I’ll be doing it all myself mostly then come October time I’ll employ someone else for Saturday and just see where we go from there. I should hopefully have a fully functioning website by Xmas time. The socials interactions are great at the moment.

Hopefully it’ll be more like how it was when Sean was in charge but with my little spin on it.

Any particular suppliers or beers you want to mention?

Courier Brew Co have been fab, Thistly Cross Cider, Adam over at Track, the guys at Distant Lands have been fantastic. I’m excited to have Ashover Brew in the shop… the list is endless.

Will you be doing the box saves? It feels like half of Sheffield must have typed “One please Sean” at some point in the past, so we know it’s a popular option.

I’ve just started doing box saves. Once the website is up and running there should be an option to pay for products, build a box etc.

Great. So it’ll be ‘One please Vince’ in future!

Finally, what are your opening hours?

Currently Monday – Saturday 9am – 5.30pm. These may be subject to change, but we’ll announce it on our socials if they do.

Barrel & Anvil is located at Outlet MS3, The Moor Market, Sheffield, United Kingdom, S1 4PF. Visit www.facebook.com/barrelandanvilsheff for more details.

In the second part of a series on local bottle shops, I’ve paired two venues that have something quite interesting in common – cask ale, but not as we know it. 

Archer Road Beer Stop

Archer Road Beer Stop has been running for 43 years, the last 7 of which have been under the ownership of Richard Hattersley (with additional oversight from 16 year old shop cat Butters). Richard spent many years at the House Skate Park in Neepsend but was a regular at Archer Road under its prior owner Dave. While his initial purchases were mostly lagers and Guinness, Dave suggested trying Acorn’s Gorlovka imperial stout (7%) and Richard was hooked – he still stocks Gorlovka today. 

The shop is known locally for having no on-license but providing cask real ale for takeaway. 4 pint containers are available, or bring your own clean container, growler, or even a plastic milk bottle for refilling – as long as it has a lid on it when it leaves, it’s fine! One cask always on and a second in busier periods – Richard expects to have pins of stout or Christmas beers on this second line in the lead up to Christmas. 

On the shelves the Beer Stop stocks a range of local bottled and canned ales, and Belgian beers. Bottles include Welbeck, Acorn, Great Newsome and Wold Top (the latter usually being gluten free). There’s also an extensive range of German lagers and craft cans in the fridges.

Hop Hideout

Jules Gray reopened her bar and bottle shop Hop Hideout in its new location of Leah’s Yard in August 2024, and the business is in its 12th year overall.

Hop Hideout often stocks bottled beer from Bradfield and Thornbridge, with cans from other Sheffield breweries and beyond. The bar also offers 7 craft keg lines, a keg cider and a bag in box cider as well as a range of wines. Jules has also curated her own cellar of aged belgian beers, predominantly lambics – although there are often a variety of vintage years of Orval available, as it’s one of Jules’ favourites. 

While the shop doesn’t have hand pull, Jules owns a wooden pin which was restored by master cooper Jonathan Manby at Jensen’s Cooperage in Thirsk, North Yorkshire. It’s refilled by various breweries (often by Abbeydale or Thornbridge) and is poured with gravity. The pin tends to rapidly empty when available, so keep an eye on socials to not miss it!

Hop Hideout is often host to tap takeovers, launches, readings and other non-beer events, and Jules runs the annual Sheffield Beer Week (which often creeps into more than a week!). The city-wide event celebrated its 11th year in 2025 with Indie Beer Feast and numerous events across a large number of venues.

Hop Hideout began its journey on Abbeydale Road as a small craft beer shop with keg taps and a tasting room. When Kommune food hall opened with an attached independent retail area, the opportunity arose to relocate to a City Centre location. Hop Hideout left Kommune a few months ago, and there are now no shops there. Since then, some pop-up events in collaboration with local brewery taprooms have taken place.

Jules has now launched the third iteration of Hop Hideout at the newly regenerated Leah’s Yard on Cambridge Street in Sheffield City Centre. Leah’s Yard is home to a cluster of small independent businesses, including a Pete McKee gallery, designer clothing shops, ceramics, and various food and drink retailers.

The format for Hop Hideout is similar to before, with a cosy shop unit featuring fridges full of craft beer, cider, and natural wine, along with taps for draught beer and cider. There are also tables inside and outside if you want to sit and enjoy your drink on the premises. Moving from Kommune to their own space means Hop Hideout can now do much more on the special events side of things, so you can expect tutored tasting sessions hosted by brewers, winemakers, and cider producers.

Hop Hideout’s new opening was part of the launch of the entire Leah’s Yard development during the August bank holiday weekend, which attracted a lot of interest. The shop continues to see many new faces popping in, as well as a lot of old regulars who have followed them to the new location. The spot is ideal, in a busy part of the City Centre near City Hall, and it is looking fantastic following recent regeneration work. Leah’s Yard has the Cambridge Street Collective as a neighbour, along with many new shop units along the same street.

Once Jules has had a chance to catch her breath after getting the shop open, training the staff, serving the many customers, sorting out rewards for crowdfunding contributors, and getting everything organised and tidy, we will be having a chat with her for a future issue of Beer Matters, by which time some of the special events will have been announced!

La Di Da is a new specialist shop is opening in Chapeltown on 5 December, selling Quality Wines, Rare Malt Whisky, World Spirits, Craft Ales and a selection of Havana and International Cigars.

The man behind the shop is Wayne Griffin, he’s been a manager at Mitchell’s Wines of Meadowhead for 10 years, they have a great local reputation and it is likely Chapeltown will be benefiting from his experience there!

The beer range at La Di Da includes many local breweries plus craft beers from further afield both UK and international along with some of the classic Belgian beers.

La Di Da will also be selling online at sheffieldcigarsandwine.co.uk.