Category: Travel

Bus 173 revisited

Posted on by Andy Cullen

Having featured crawls around central Sheffield in recent months we’re back out in the Peak District part of our branch area for an updated look at places for a beer along rural bus service 173. This bus is operated by Andrew’s of Tideswell and shuttles between Bakewell and Castleton during the daytime every day except Sunday. This is a route we’ve previously featured, but with a number of new openings and closures it seems a good time to have another look!

If you are connecting from the Sheffield direction, buses 218 or 257 will take you to Bakewell, bus 65 will take you to Tideswell or bus 272 will take you to Castleton. The 173 bus also passes Hope railway station. This service does participate in the government supported fare cap scheme, which currently means that the maximum single fare is £3 per ride, alternatively a Derbyshire Wayfarer all day bus pass is available for £9 from the driver or the Travelmaster app. Bus timetables are available on the Travel Derbyshire website with live tracking available at bustimes.org.

There is a choice of pubs in Bakewell, however the 173 bus commences just around the corner from the Joiners Arms micropub, making that a convenient starting point!

Coming out of Bakewell, the first stop of interest is at Thornbridge Brewery tap room. It is located in one of the big sheds on the brewery complex, shared with the smaller batch brew kit and features a bar showcasing their range of cask and keg beers along with a pizza kitchen and shop selling merchandise and bottled beers.

Next along the route is the Ashford Arms in Ashford-in-the-Water. The bus drops off on the main road just outside the village but it is only a short walk to this pub, restaurant and hotel owned by the Longbow Hospitality Group which saw a huge investment in renovations when they bought it closed and boarded up. Its a fairly smart place with several rooms that can cater for different moods – a pint of cask ale in a cosy room by a fire or nice meal in a bigger dining room with tables adourned with crisp linen tablecloths are both catered for!

In Great Longstone there are two pubs, both owned by Robinsons Brewery. The White Lion is a modern local with the bar in the lounge area at the front of the pub and a dining area at the back. At the time of writing this pub was closed for refurbishment and change of management.

The other pub in the village is the Crispin, a big traditional pub building with a quirky feel thanks to a massive collection of ornamental tankards hanging from the ceiling.

Heading up the hill in Little Longstone is the Packhorse Inn. This cosy pub started out life as a couple of miners cottages but has been welcoming drinkers since 1787! Their ethos of serving fresh, local produce is applied to both the food and the beer, the latter coming from the nearby Thornbridge brewery. This is a very popular dining destination and booking is advisable. There is an additional area for drinkers at the rear through the beer garden.

At the top of the hill, behind the Monsal Head Hotel, is the Stables Bar. A range of cask ales and food menu is available here but the big attraction is the breathtaking view from out front over the valley where you can look down and see the former railway viaduct which is now part of the Monsal Trail.

Two buses a day dive down the hillside from the pub car park into Cressbrook Dale, which is an interesting ride, however all the other trips on the 173 you can be dropped off on request near the Three Stags Heads (which is also served once a day by bus 257a to Sheffield) at Wardlow Mires.

This is an absolutely legendary heritage pub that is like a living museum. Licencees Kath and Andy hold court along with their Lurcher dog facilitating an atmosphere where strangers sit around the open fire enjoying conversation and a pint. A choice of 4 cask ales are available, usually from Abbeydale, Eyam and Interepid breweries including the house beer “Black Lurcher”, a strong stout. Note this pub only opens Thursday to Sunday and is cash only.

The next village the 173 bus arrives at is Litton, home of the award winning Red Lion pub. This is the classic country inn with multiple cosy rooms with low beams and fireplaces. The small tap room containing the bar is at the far end of the building whilst the rest of the pub is generally used by diners – the food here is popular! The bar has a range of cask ales and keg beers, always including some from local breweries. There are also hotel rooms upstairs.

Tideswell offers a pub crawl in its own right. At one end of the village is the Horse & Jockey, a traditional local pub spread across three areas. The bar features a regular changing range of cask ales and home cooked pub grub is served.

There are two pubs in the centre of the village, the Star and the George then at the far end of the village on the industrial estate is Eyam Brewery’s tap room.

The tap room opens from Thursday to Sunday and serves a range of Eyam’s beer on both cask and keg, has an open kitchen offering a smash burger menu and a shop offering bottled and canned Eyam beers to take away as well as branded clothing.

Heading out of Tideswell, on the crossroads, sits the Anchor, a Robinsons brewery pub that also serves food. It has benefitted from significant investment in refurbishment, although the bit that hit the headlines was creating a dedicated parking space for tractors.

Next the bus passes through Great Hucklow, the village where Eyam’s actual brewery is based, however there is currently no pub here – the Queen Anne is currently closed and up for sale following the long standing licencees retirement. There is the option of leaving the bus on the B6049 and walking up the country lane into Little Hucklow for the Blind Bull, a restored pub that offers food and hotel accommodation.

Bradwell has a choice of 3 pubs. On the main road served by bus 173 is the Shoulder of Mutton whilst just up the hill from the infamous “Bradwell Gap” that bus 272 squeezes through is the White Hart, which is associated with Bradfield Brewery. Stay on another stop then walk uphill into the residential area for Ye Olde Bowling Green Inn which features a beer garden with a view!

Brough is home to Intrepid Brewery and High Peak Cider, who host the occasional open days in the summer whilst the only pub there is the Travellers Rest, on the main road down the Hope Valley with a camp site at the rear.

In Hope we’ve regularly mentioned the Old Hall Hotel, Woodroffe Arms and Cheshire Cheese over the years which are all going strong, however they are now joined by Hope Valley Tap & Bottle. This is a specialist bottle shop that also has a number of craft beers on tap with the option of drinking in – there is an upstairs seating area. The beers on tap are usually from Derbyshire brewers such as Torrside, Buxton or Intrepid.

Finally, into Castleton. Little has changed here. Cask ale options include the Swiss Tap, Olde Cheshire Cheese, Peak Hotel. Old Nags Head (look out for the Lucky Hoof house beer supplied by the local Intrepid brewery), Bulls Head (Robinson Brewery), Castle Inn (Mitchells & Butler Vintage Inn chain) and the George.

Micropub Adventures

Posted on by Andy Cullen

Scott from the Micropub Adventures blog has refreshed a couple of his rail ale trails, which encourages people to enjoy a day out visiting pubs along railway lines using the train to hop between them.

Sheffield to Retford

The trail has stops at Sheffield (Sheffield Tap) Woodhouse (The Oxbow), Kiveton Bridge (Kiveton Tap), Shireoaks (Ticking Clock Brewery tap room), Worksop (Mallard and Station Hotel) and Retford (Beer Under The Clock, Brew Shed, Idle Valley Tap and Retford Craft House). Northern run an hourly train service along this line on the Leeds to Lincoln route. The bit between Sheffield, Woodhouse and Kiveton can also be done using the X5 bus.

You can find details of this trail online at sheffieldretfordtrail.co.uk.

Three Counties – New Mills to Bredbury and Disley

There are two railway stations in the Derbyshire town of New Mills – Central station on the Sheffield to Manchester line and Newtown station on the Buxton to Manchester line – and both feature on this trail which is a circular starting and ending in New Mills!

At New Mills it features the Beer Shed micropub and Torr Vale Tap – plus the Torrside Brewing tap room which opens one weekend a month over the summer.

On the line from New Mills Central there are four pubs in Marple – the Bevi, Dig Inn, Samual Oldknow and Traders then its on to Romiley (Hop Haus and Crafty Vendor) and Bredbury for the Steel Works. Over on the Newtown line in Disley is a micropub called Malt Disley. Yes, I know!

It is about a 10 minute walk between the two stations in New Mills.

You can find details of this and other trails online at micropubaventures.co.uk.

RambAle reports

Posted on by Malcolm Dixon

August’s RambAle saw us walking around the backwacks, gennels and nature reserves in the Woodhouse and Woodhouse Mill area while visiting the Stag Inn, Oxbow micropub and the Royal pubs for some refreshment.

We were in the company of and led by members of the Steel City Hash House Harriers (part of an international group of non-competitive social running clubs which began in Malaysia back in 1938, who term themselves a “drinking club with a running problem”) who joined us for the day and our 4.5-mile circular walk. An enjoyable day out in good company.

For the Saturday 26 September RambAle we travel a little outside our area but continue with an ongoing theme of the Chesterfield Canal. We shall set off walking from the Mallard Inn at Worksop railway station at 1pm for a 5.5-mile walk to the Chequers Inn at Ranby, mostly along the canal towpath. We return to Worksop by bus to catch a train back to Sheffield. The recommended train from Sheffield is at 11:38, which offers about 40 minutes to relax with a beer in the Mallard before the walk.

Peak District pubs by bus

Posted on by Andy Cullen

Sheffield has some absolutely breathtaking countryside and cracking rural pubs on its doorstep and a large chunk of the Peak District falls into the Sheffield & District CAMRA branch area.

Over the spring and summer we’ve run a series of pub guides in Beer Matters showing you how to get there by bus or train, however, by popular demand, here’s a repeat of the network map for our part of the Peak District showing all the pubs that serve cask ale. Breweries on our patch include Intrepid Brewery in Brough and Eyam Brewery in Great Hucklow (note their taproom is in Tideswell).

Bus routes:

  • 62 Castleton to Buxton via Hope and Edale
  • 65 Buxton to Sheffield via Litton, Tideswell, Eyam, Calver, Grindleford and Ecclesall
  • 173 Castleton to Bakewell via Hope, Bradwell, Tideswell, Litton and Monsal Head
  • 218 Bakewell to Sheffield via Chatsworth, Baslow and Totley
  • 257 Bakewell to Sheffield via Eyam, Calver, Grindleford, Bamford and Crosspool
  • 272 Castleton to Sheffield via Hope, Hathersage and Ecclesall
  • BLUE – open-top Peak Sightseer tour Chatsworth-Castleton (seasonal – 23 May to 10 October)
  • RED – open-top Peak Sightseer tour Chatsworth-Bakewell (seasonal – 23 May to 10 October)

The Hope Valley train runs from Sheffield to Manchester calling at Dore & Totley, Grindleford, Hathersage, Bamford, Hope and Edale.

A Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket gives you a day of unlimited bus travel in the area on all the local services except Peak Sightseer, for £9. There is also the option of including off-peak train travel for £17. You can buy from bus drivers, the TravelMaster app, Sheffield station ticket office and Northern ticket vending machines. Single fares on buses are currently capped at £3 per ride.

Note Baslow and Bakewell are in the Chesterfield CAMRA branch area but included for completeness as the bus routes pass through!

Bermondsey Beer Mile

Posted on by Paul Rugg

A few days in London gave me my first chance to visit the Bermondsey Beer Mile, a beery bucket list item. So post a mind-bending visit to the Escher exhibition, Sheena and I set off on a hot and sunny Friday afternoon, and found the first challenge was to find somewhere open. It seems 3–5pm onwards is the opening time for most venues!

Thankfully the Kernel Taproom is open from midday. Not in a railway arch to my surprise, but a modern, plain venue that lacks a little charm, but makes up for it with an extensive beer list (if only one cask beer). We started sensibly on the very tasty table beer, followed by the Dunkel, a style of lager not seen brewed often in the UK.

The next bar was in a railway arch, the Enid Street Tavern, more what I was expecting as a venue, with a list of ten beers, one on cask; several from Bianca Road Brew Co situated in the Beer Mile, and only one beer I’d seen before. Their own pale was gone in a flash, always a good sign, but we kept on moving.

Next was a cidery as I love a good cider. Against the Grain is perhaps just that on the Beer Mile, but the Heart of Oak, dry oak cider made on the premises took me back to my youth in all the best ways.

The Anspach & Hobday Arch House taproom was the best fitted out railway arch venue we visited, very modern, and plush. I only really knew of their London Black nitro porter, so was pleasantly surprised to find 13 beers from the brewery on, including a cask beer. The cask beer Tack! was a collaboration with O/O Brewing in Sweden; Dan Rowe told me it would be worth trying, and I’m glad he did. Tasty, Hoppy, very well kept, and cool on a hot day, an excellent 6.5% IPA.

Final destination was Hiver Taproom as Sheena loves honey beer (and beekeeping). The taproom has a beehive in it, but, don’t worry, we were never bothered by them, and the three honey beers were all tried and enjoyed, plus some honey to take home.

As a first experience of the Beer Mile, I felt we only scratched the surface, with plenty of venues still to go out. We enjoyed how chill it was, but will go in the evening next time, if only so more of the venues are open.

The X17 to Matlock

Posted on by Dave Pickersgill

We recently made use of our bus passes and the X17: an hourly service which runs from Barnsley to Matlock via Sheffield and Chesterfield. My colleague, Paul, went for the longer journey, commencing in Barnsley while I joined him at Sheffield Interchange. The full journey takes well over two hours with the leg from Sheffield to Matlock taking around 80–90 minutes (the top deck offers excellent views).

On arrival in Matlock, we descended at the Red Lion bus stop and visited the family-owned pub, the home of Moot Ales, a 10-barrel. operation which has brewed since 2018. The name pays homage to the history of Matlock: the original meaning of the name was ‘the oak (tree) where a moot was held’. A moot was an assembly, which symbolises a spirit of community, discussion and coming together.

We sampled two of their beers: Matlock Best (4.3%) and a 5.3% IPA, Giddy Edge.

We then adjourned to two other local outlets: the Remarkable Hare and bod Matlock. The Hare had a good range of cask beers served in a smart front bar. The rear of the building includes a large eating area.

Across the road, bod is a 2022 conversion of a former furniture shop which provides six cask ales: we went for the legendary Titanic Plum Porter (4.9%). In 2023, the pub was highly commended in the national CAMRA Pub Design Awards (Conversion to Pub Use category).

bod’s bar

The return journey was punctuated by a stop in Chesterfield and visits to the Chesterfield Alehouse and the recently reopened Grade II* listed Royal Oak.

The latter is the oldest pub in Chesterfield. It includes an old sign for Sheffield brewery William Stones. This was uncovered in 2025 – Stones having purchased the pub from the Batteson family in 1897.

On return to Sheffield, the X17 passed the Rutland Arms: the provider of my last beer of a long, but enjoyable, day.

A feature of the Royal Oak

RambAle – September

Posted on by Mike Cooke

Chesterfield Canal – Worksop to Ranby – Saturday 26 September 2026

Continuing the Chesterfield Canal theme, the walk starts at Worksop railway station. We catch the 11.38 Lincoln train from Sheffield to Worksop, arriving there at 12.07. We will commence the walk around 1.00pm after some refreshments at the Mallard Inn on the station. A short walk down Carlton Road brings us to the canal and we head eastwards on Canal Road and then along the towpath to Ranby.

On the way we pass the Victorian Bracebridge Pumping Station and then go over the aqueduct over the River Ryton. After that we pass under the access road for the Sherwood Solar Farm and following a couple of bridge crossings where the towpath shifts to the opposite bank and back, we pass under the dual carriageway that is the A1 and arrive at Ranby. The Chequers Inn, which overlooks the canal, serves a couple of cask ales at any time and food is available. The walking distance, along the predominantly flat canal towpath, is around 5.5 miles, and takes about 2 hours. This leaves us about an hour before we catch the 16.02 43 bus back to Worksop station.

Arriving back at Worksop, we have a choice of trains back to Sheffield. If you need to get back quickly, there’s one at 17.04, but if you fancy another pint (or two) in the Mallard, there’s the 18.10 or the 19.12. Both take around half an hour to get you back on home ground.

Wyre Forest folk visit Sheffield

Posted on by Guest

Over a dozen people, mainly from CAMRA’s Wyre Forest branch in Worcestershire, chose Sheffield for their annual spring trip. Recent destinations have included Liverpool, Nottingham, Oxford, Scarborough and York.

The weather was kind, and the publicans of Sheffield extended a very warm welcome over two to three days towards the end of May. Between us, we must have visited several dozen of the city’s renowned pubs, both traditional and modern, enjoying many beers that are rarely if ever found in our own area.

Among the pubs to stand out as highlights – for different reasons – are the Bath Hotel, Dog & Partridge, Fargate, Fat Cat, Grapes, Harlequin, Head of Steam, Kelham Island Tavern, Perch, Shakespeares, Sheffield Tap, Two & Six, Vocation & Co and Wisewood.

Of course our spring trip is not just about beer and pubs, not quite anyway. The Kelham Island Museum was a highlight for many, and people also enjoyed Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet and the Botanical Gardens. The 7 Spices Balti hosted us for an excellent group meal.

We would like to thank our colleagues from Sheffield & District CAMRA – including Paul Manning, Mike Cook and Dave Pickersgill – who gave invaluable advice while we were in the planning stage. Even better, they and other locals joined us in the garden of the St.Mars of the Desert Brewery for a social afternoon.

Now that connections have been made, several from the visiting group are intending to return to Sheffield for the Steel City Beer Festival in October. We extend a cordial invitation to the ale drinkers of Yorkshire to visit our own (rather smaller) Kidderminster Beer & Cider Festival, which is taking place from 12th to 14th November, a well loved event at a time of year when few festivals are held.

Harrogate, Ripon and Knaresborough

Posted on by Guest

The Harrogate, Ripon and Knaresborough Ale Trail runs from 1st to 31st August with 30 participating venues.

Harrogate and Ripon CAMRA branch covers an area of North Yorkshire to the north of Leeds stretching over 20 miles up into the Yorkshire Dales. We have a good number of rural pubs together with a high concentration of pubs and clubs in the three main centres.

Our members wanted to support our pubs, clubs and breweries and decided three years ago that an Ale Trail might encourage real ale drinkers to try new pubs and increase footfall into all of the participant venues.

We looked at members’ beer scores in the three main towns and chose the best 30 pubs, clubs and taprooms in terms of beer quality, most of which also had a good selection of ales. This included most of our Good Beer Guide pubs in the three towns but also some that didn’t quite make the grade for the Guide.

We approached local breweries Daleside and Rooster’s for help and they have been very happy to support us for the last three years of running the Trail.

In order to ensure a good offering of prizes to incentivise people to undertake the trail we ask every venue to offer a prize of a bar/food tab between £20 and £50 or a gallon of real ale. This means that there’s a good selection of prizes and all venues benefit by receiving return visits from Ale Trailers.

So how does it work?

The Ale Trail is open to everyone, not just CAMRA members.

We supply each participating venue with Ale Trail passports which include details of the 30 pubs, clubs and taprooms, and maps to assist with navigation. Ale Trailers pick up a passport and buy at least half a pint of cask ale (or real cider) in each venue entitling them to collect a unique sticker which is placed on the relevant page of their passport.

Ale Trailers visit as many venues as they’re able in the three towns during the month of August collecting stickers along the way, and subject to a minimum of 15 stickers, then complete their name and email address, tear out the sticker page and submit to one of the ‘core’ pubs named in the passport for entry into the Prize Draw.

The Prize Draw takes place in September where our members draw entries from a hat. The first three entries drawn win a £50 prize and thereafter prizes are awarded in order of value.

Want to join in the Trail?

The Ale Trail runs from 1st to 31st August.

All venues can be reached by public transport. Harrogate and Knaresborough both have train stations and Ripon is reached via a regular bus service (36) from Harrogate. Please see our website for more detail: http://www.harrogateandriponcamra.org.uk/ale-trail.html

Out in the “District”

Posted on by Andy Cullen

The Sheffield & District CAMRA branch area contains significantly more than just the city of Sheffield, with the District part being in Derbyshire. This includes Killamarsh and Ridgeway along with a huge chunk of the Peak District National Park such as the Hope Valley.

During the summer we’re making an effort to hold members’ socials and meetings in the area and our June social saw one of our pubs by bus trips take place. It was originally billed as pubs along the 257 bus route (which runs from Sheffield to Eyam and Bakewell via Ladybower, Bamford, Grindleford and Calver) but having seen a beer festival advertised at the Red Lion in Litton along with a steam rally our plans were adapted!

The date was put in the diary early in the new year and we were lucky to get a hot sunny day, however it did end up being the same weekend festivals at the Sheaf View, Wisewood Inn and Heeley City Farm plus Kelham Pride so it was just 4 of us on this one!

We started out on the midday 257 bus to the Anglers Rest in Bamford, a pub owned by the community but leased out to Atlantik Inns to operate. It also features a tea room and the village post office. There was a choice of 5 cask ales from Abbeydale, Eyam and Intrepid breweries on the bar. As it was lunchtime and we had an hour there some of us ordered food. As well as the main meals menu they also do lunchtime sandwiches and a bar bites menu that is available quicker!

The 257 bus then took us on to Eyam and the Miners Arns, this is a Greene King pub with lounge, restaurant and beer garden. 3 cask ales were available including a guest beer from Eyam brewery. It was also noted the village shop sells bottles and cans from Eyam brewery! The brewery is no longer in this village, however, with production now up the road in Great Hucklow whilst the new tap room is in Tideswell.

Half an hour later bus 65 picked us up for the ride to Litton, via a slightly different route to normal as the road through Tideswell was closed for first day of the annual Tidza Wakes Week celebrations. We also bypassed Great Hucklow, possibly because the steam rally touring the area was coming down the country lane the other way!

Litton has its own celebrations alongside this with the main event being “Litton Night” on the Tuesday and the Red Lion’s beer festival is part of this. We were greeted by an outside bar featuring a dozen cask ales stillaged up and served on gravity pour. This supplemented a decent range inside on the normal pub bar. Many beers were enjoyed sat outside in the sunshine over the couple of hours we were there and at about tea time the pub started to prepare for a livelier evening with music and a BBQ. Some of us grabbed a burger before we left!

Bus 173 took us for the short ride down the hill to Wardlow Mires, although there was a slight delay due to the driver getting out to help a motorcyclist that had come off her bike on the junction after overtaking the bus – luckily nothing was hurt other than her pride! Our next stop was the Three Stags Head, where we found the steam rally parked up and the groups riding on their trailers enjoying a beer outside! The Three Stags Heads is a proper museum piece of a pub full of character that hasn’t changed in years and has a selection of cask ales on the bar from Abbeydale, Eyam and Intrepid including the “Black Lurcher” strong stout brewed specially for them by Abbeydale and named after the breed of dog that has been resident there for many years!

We had the time it took the 173 to get to Bakewell and back to enjoy our beer before rejoining it for a ride through to Bradwell. An uphill walk into a hillside residential area was then neccessar to reach Ye Olde Bowling Green, a classic multiroom pub that also offers accommodation and food. There were just two cask ales available – Timothy Taylor Landlord and Bradfield Farmers Blonde – and these were enjoyed in the beer garden which offered a spectacular view over the valley.

Bus 272 then took us back to Sheffield City Centre offering another scenic bus ride, including the climb up into the hills from Hathersage, at the end of an interesting day drinking beer in the sunshine and travelling through some beautiful countryside.

Our next social in the Peak District part of our branch will be on Saturday 22 August, using the 65 bus which runs from Sheffield to Tideswell and Buxton. Our branch area stretches as far as Millers Dale, just short of Buxton, on this route and there are many pubs along the route plus Eyam Brewery’s tap room. Meet on the bus leaving Sheffield Interchange at 11:35, a Derbyshire Wayfarer all day bus pass costs £9, you can buy this from the driver or on the Travelmaster app.