Join us to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the creation of the Pennine Way long distance footpath with this much shorter walk between Hope and Edale where the Way starts on its 268 mile route to Kirk Yetholm.
We shall be catching the 11:36 272 Castleton bus from Sheffield Interchange as far as Hope Village. Our first drink will be in the Old Hall Inn and we’ll wait for anyone who’s come out on the 12:14 Northern train from Sheffield. A short walk then takes us to the Old Cheshire Cheese for a second drink.
From there there’s a choice. You can either join us for a walk up Lose Hill to Hollins Cross and then down to Edale for a drink at the Rambler Inn to get our breath back before walking up to the Old Nags Head where there should be a Beer Festival in full swing (April 25th-27th)
Alternatively, you can board the 62 bus from outside the Cheshire Cheese to take you to Edale for that section of the RambAle. Late comers can also come out on the train to join us at Edale. Departures from Sheffield are at 14 minutes past each hour. Return travel will be by train from Edale Station. All welcome.
Next RambAles: – Sat May 17th, Fri June 6th and Sat July 12th
A recent birthday celebration saw a few days in Berlin. Travel was via Ryanair from Manchester: a full plane including a very well-behaved school party. The S9 S-bahn then took us to our base at the Premier Inn Alexanderplatz. This central location allowed us to walk to most of the key sites, the exercise providing the excuse for the occasional rest-stop.
Bars visited included Brauhaus Georgbrau (Spreeufer 4, 10178). Established in 1992, this large riverside old-style brewery and bar provided traditional favourites, Hells and Dunkel (both 5%).
Close by, Weihenstephaner Berlin (Neue Promenade 5, Hackescher Markt), the main Berlin outlet of the Bavarian State Brewery of Weihenstephan (Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan), provided a full range of German-style beers, all served by waiters wearing Lederhosen. The Tradition Bayerlisch Dunkel (5.2%) was sampled. Established in 1040 and owned by the Free State of Bavaria, this brewery claims to be the oldest in the world.
Our favourite outlet was Brauerei Lemke Berlin (founded 1999), under the railway arches at Hackeschen Markt. Here, Die Bierprobe provided six 0.1 L tasters: Bohemia Pilsner (5.0%), Original (5.4%), Wizen (5.5%), 030 Pale (5.0%), India Pale Ale (6.5%) and Budike Weisse (3.4%). The Budike had a gentle sourness while the IPA was sound to the style. These were the best beers tasted during our short stay.
Other beers encountered included: Berliner Pranke, Echt Mild Bier (6%), a pale lager from the local Berliner-Kindl-Schultheiss-Brauerei and Stark-Bier (7.5%), a Doppelbock from Störtebeker Braumanufaktur (1827), based in Stralsund, on the Baltic Sea. This brewery is named after Klaus, a late C14th pirate, who was executed in 1401.
We also visited many other well-known spots, including the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, the Holocaust Memorial, Potsdam, Neue NationalGallerie and Tiergarten.
In short, an excellent break, lots of culture and some interesting beers!
Sheffield has many great pubs and green spaces within, and around, its boundaries. Once again we invite you to join us on visits to some of our local pubs and villages in the countryside in and surrounding Sheffield using public transport.
APRIL Sat 26 | The Pennine Way starts here!
Join us to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the creation of the Pennine Way long distance footpath with this much shorter walk between Hope and Edale where the Way starts on its 268 mile route to Kirk Yetholm.
Catch the 11:36 272 Castleton bus from Sheffield Interchange as far as Hope village. We shall meet up in the Old Hall Inn for our first drink and wait for anyone who’s come out on the 12:14 Northern train from Sheffield.
A short walk then takes us to the Old Cheshire Cheese for a second drink. From there we’ll walk up Lose Hill to Hollins Cross and then down to Edale for a drink at the Rambler Inn to get our breath back before walking up to the Old Nags Head where there should be a beer festival in full swing (25-27). Return travel will be by train from Edale Station.
MAY Sat 17 | A bluebell walk through Ecclesall Woods to Dore & Totley
Meet outside Dore and Totley Stn (S17 3LB – trains, 97, 98 or 218 buses) at 11:30. We’ll walk through Ecclesall Woods and Ryecroft Glen up to Dore to call in at the Devonshire Arms. We’ll then walk down to the Crown and the Cricket Inn at Totley before walking up to the Cross Scythes for a final drink before a bus back home.
JUNE Fri 6 | Beighton to Halfway via Rother Valley Country Park and Killamarsh
We catch the 11:45 Blue Tram from Castle Square to the Drake House Lane in Beighton stop. Then its a short walk to the Scarsdale Hundred Wetherspoons for our starters. We then walk down to and then through the Rother Valley Country Park to get to Killamarsh for a visit to the award winning Guzzle MicroPub.
Finally we walk up the road to finish with a visit to the Fuggle Bunny Brew House, where we might be joined by fellow CAMRA drinkers.
JULY Sat 12 | In the footsteps of Kes, Hoyland Common to Chapeltown
Catch the 11:36 2 bus from Eyre Street alighting at Stead Lane in Hoyland Common, featuring artwork depicting Billy Caspar and Kes, and a blue plaque on the house where Barry Hines lived.
We visit the Tap & Brew for a choice of six brews, then onto the Saville Square pub. We do a bit of walking towards Tankersley and Thorncliffe. The Miners Arms might provide a further stop as we continue on our way to the Commercial in Chapeltown.
We might find time to call in the Wagon & Horses before getting either a train or bus back to Sheffield.
AUGUST TBD | We hope to feature a mini pub tour of Derbyshire
We aim to provide a series of walks which we hope people won’t find either too long or too strenuous and most will feature a number of pubs and drop-out points where people can leave and make their own way back, by bus or train, to Sheffield if they don’t fancy doing the whole walk or want to stay for another drink in a particular pub. These will also provide joining points for any latecomers.
Everyone is welcome to join us on any of these walks but they are advised to come suitably equipped for the day’s walking, which may be rough, wet and muddy in places. Please also come prepared for the possibility of changeable and inclement weather. In most cases you will also need to bring (or be able to buy) sufficient food and drink for yourself for the day.
Most timings and fares will be given in the walks listing. Any additions or amendments will also be published in new leaflets, future editions of Beer Matters or on our website.
After a good night watching an Oasis tribute in the local WMC, but with no real ale. We were looking forward to our Bridlington trip to seek out some GBG establishments. It was nice to see since my last visit to see The Stone Eoses, the place has received a bit of a spruce up, and pubs have embraced real ale.
A timely train got into the station at 12:05, just 25 minutes before the Owls lunchtime KO. Heading into town, many of the pubs were only showing the Man City game. Until we happened on the Three Brass Monkeys on Prince Street.
The bar is spacious and long with multiple screens showing 3-4 games. A decent choice of 3 ales, White Rat, Old Peculiar and Black Sheep Bitter. My friend started on the Old Peculiar, a dark, fruity beer packing a 5.6% ABV. I chose Ossett’s White Rat, a triple hopped pale at a more sensible 4%. As we watched the game, which to be honest wasn’t going great, we decided to have another pint and see it out. Both of us plumped for the Black Sheep Bitter, a nicely hopped, Amber beer of 3.8%.
Despite a last minute winner for the opposition, we weren’t dispirited and set out to the well respected Three Bs on Marshall Avenue. Easy to find in a quite compact town centre, the pub has a distinctive red frontage.
On entry, there was a warm welcome from the owner, Mark. The choice of 3 handpumps had us choose Shiny’s Disco Balls, an American IPA, one of the nicest hazy pales I’ve had and weighing in at 5.3%. The bar is very similar to our favourite Sheffield micro pubs, decked out with old photos of Bridlinton, beermats of the now 978, and counting, beers since opening and beer posters. The conversation with Mark and different customers was friendly, informative and useful. Mark has plans to move shortly, to a venue round the corner in town. The pub will be slightly larger, but not have the small seated lounge currently available upstairs. So if visiting, keep an eye on where he is.
Armed with a couple of recommendations, we set off again. This is when we discovered The Brunswick Hotel, Manor St, a nicely decorated, warm pub which had 4 pumps, although only 3 were on. The two we tried were both Wold Top, a local Driffileld brewery. A Wold Gold, a nice blonde, almost wheat style beer with Golding and Syrian hops in at 4.8%. We followed this with a Scarborough Fair IPA, British style and quite citrusy, full bodied at 6% too.
Hunger was now taking hold, so we went in search of a chippy. We found a decent one a few minutes away, and here is where a contentious issue arises. We in Sheffield class a fishcake as 2 slices of potato with fish in the middle, and deeply fried, not Bridlington! I ordered one in a butty and was deeply disappointed to find it was a rissole. Yes, the mashed potato and fish version in breadcrumbs. Now I know it is in the East Riding of Yorkshire, but oi Bridlington, noooo!
Right, rant over, we then had little time for the trip up to The Board, Pack Horse or Old Ship Inn. The train is cheap enough for a summer/autumn month trip, we will definitely go again to this vastly improved seaside destination, starting at the above venues around 25 minutes from the station and working back to town.
Shame it’s outside our regional social event time restraints at 2hrs, but for individuals and friends, it’s an ideal day/overnight trip with a good choice of ales and chippy teas.
Northern operate regular train services from Sheffield to Scarborough via Hull that call at Bridlington, there are often cheaper tickets available if you buy in advance to travel at a set time – see northernrailway.co.uk.
In December I visited friends in Istanbul with my wife. We’d lived there from 2020-23 for work and it’s always good to visit again – on this trip we stayed in the same apartment block we’d lived in, in Şişli.
I was fortunate enough to live nearby what you might consider Turkey’s home of ‘craft’ beer. Bomontiada was built in the late 1800s as a brewery by Swiss brewers the Bomonti brothers. Bomonti brewery was bought by Turkey’s Anadolu Efes macro-brewer in the 1990s and still exists as a spin-off ‘craft’ label – their Bomonti Filtresis (unfiltered lager, 4.8%) is widely available in both bottles and on taps in many restaurants and pubs in the city, and is my go-to when not in a craft beer bar.
Bomontiada is now home to several bars and restaurants, including Populist, my first stop on this trip – Populist is a chain of currently two brewpubs which, due to peculiarities of Turkish law meaning that a brewery cannot sell its beer direct to the public, serves exclusively beer from Torch Brewery.
Torch and Populist are legally distinct businesses, but all beer served in Populist is Torch. It’s a large space with a huge capacity, and serves what I’d describe as Turkish fusion pub food. Burgers, but also flatbread topped with kokoreç – chopped and spiced lamb intestines.
They brew a range of pale ales and IPAs which usually lean towards a more old school English or west coast IPA rather than the currently popular New England variety. They often have more than one variety of lager on (their 4.9% Kölsch is my go-to on a hot day), usually a nitro stout (5.8%) or occasionally an imperial stout (>8%). For their 1000th brew in 2022 they made a berry vanilla imperial stout at 8.6%. On this visit I had the 5.8% IPA on keg — 330ml for 265TL, or £6. Craft beer in Turkey is fairly expensive due to the various taxes and duties involved, and the cost of ingredients.
On my second day I visited another of Istanbul’s ‘brewery taps’ — SOMX’s Taproomx, in a very central location just off Istiklal. They’re a cuckoo brewery whose beer is brewed in 3 Kafadar’s brewery in Istanbul. I tried a single hop Idaho7 Pale (4.6%), then their Kent Caramel (5%), a brown ale with East Kent Goldings hops! I finished up with their new Nectarlicious NEIPA (6%) — hopped with Nectaron, of course. We then moved on to a local excellent Georgian restaurant, Galaktion.
On the third day (and again on the fourth to meet friends) I ended up in what should be any beer fan’s target when in Istanbul — Sanayi 1-A. They now have two branches and I began in their newer Nişantasi branch, which I hadn’t visited before. I had an Aşne Vişne by 3 Kafadar (5%) which is a sour cherry beer — I believe all its sourness comes from the fruit rather than the brew method.
Later that afternoon I visited the original Sanayi 1-A bar in Maslak, in an area called Atatürk Oto Sanayi. It’s an area full of car garages (oto sanayi means ‘auto industry’) and anyone who’s spent time wandering around industrial estates looking for a taproom will feel at home here. These bars are probably the only independent wholly craft beer bars in the country — many bars in busy areas will have occasional taps of craft beer or bottles in their fridges, but Sanayi is all craft (except for a few token Belfast lager bottles in their fridge).
The Maslak branch has 24 taps, which you’ll usually find occupied by at least 15 beers — all of them are fully engaged for special events. Every beer available is brewed by one of the 10+ breweries in Turkey. I started my visit with an English Gold (a 5% bitter), by 3 Kafadar, who are probably my favourite Turkish brewer.
It also has cats — lots of them lurking, often behind the bar, sometimes getting into little brawls. You can’t go anywhere in Turkey without running into cats, and Sanayi is no exception.
Sanayi 1-A doesn’t offer food other than crisps and nuts, but doesn’t at all mind if you pick up some food from the nearby food truck offering köfte and chips, or order from one of the many food delivery services.
On the following day I visited the Maslak Sanayi 1-A again to meet friends (current and former Sanayi staff) and finished the afternoon with a bottle share of two different years of Efes annual Grape Ale (8%). It’s particularly good, especially considering it’s from a macro brewer.
All in all a great trip, returning to my favourite spots in the city and finding time to ride a few ferries and visit excellent coffee shops, while catching up with friends.
It’s not every month a local Sheffield band plays a gig in their pub in Lincoln. So when I was emailed of this gig, I jumped at the chance. A Senior Railcard ticket of £10.50, and an absolute bargain of an Airbnb of £24, sealed the deal.
I woke early to get ready for the 10:41 train departing at Midland Station, fortunately although the bus was late I had given myself plenty of time. The train departed a minute after schedule for the direct route taking 70 minutes through some pleasant countryside. On arrival and a short hop over the bridge, I was in the city.
It was fortunate I remembered the route from our Steel City Beer Festival volunteers trip last year, although I was seeking some pubs not visited on that trip. I exited right at the station and immediately arrived on the High Street. Now it may have been one of Lincoln’s council to cancel the Christmas market, but it was still heaving with locals and visitors. The local chapel was holding an indoor fete, but outside were the fantastic Lincoln Owl Rescue and their magnificent array of birds, which are very tame and can be stroked.
After that, I headed down and arrived at my first hostelry, the Treaty of Commerce, more or less the first pub on that side of High Street, a Batemans pub with a very nice selection of four handpumps. I plumped for the Gold (also known as Yella Belly) firstly, a nice pale of 3.9% that was just right fort the first pint. The owner and the locals were very chatty and I gained some knowledge of pubs in the area. Before leaving, I was recommended to try the Dark M, 3.4%, a beer not normally seen? I am glad I did as the texture and taste was fantastic.
I then moved on to the Tiny Tavern, again on High Street, one I had visited with the mysterious “Ring bell for entry” on one door, the exit on the other side. Again a good selection of 6 pumps, including my choice of Milestone – Crusader, a safe Blonde/Golden of 4.4%.
As I was nearing check-in time, I walked to the accommodation, just over the Foss Dyke Canal and very near to the Lincoln City ground, Sincil Bank. After a quick spruce up, I ordered an Uber to visit one of the recommended pubs the Birdcage, located on Baggholme Road. A lovely little traditional pub with three beers on pump, and not too far from the gig venue. I went for the FAB (Ferry Ales Brewery) Merry Imp, a pale of 3.4% and brewed in the local microbrewery in the city.
With the aid of Google Maps, I set off for the Jolly Brewer on Broadgate. It was literally a ten minute walk and seemed a very nice venue. It had two ales among the myriad of gassy keg, and as one was Abbott, I plumped for the Bridgehouse Brewery Rum Raisin Stout at 4.9%, thin but packed with flavour, this was so nice I had to drink four pints of it. After a couple of supports, The Sherlocks made their entrance to the 200 capacity rear yard. They played a mixture of older lesser played songs, and a couple of new from the new album due in February.
After the finish, there was time for one more before bed, so I headed to Wetherspoons, the Ritz on the High Street which as the title suggests is a former cinema. They had a choice of five ales, four being Christmas themed. I selected the Milestone Donner & Blitzed, a 4.5% winter ale. Home and bed as I had to get up at 08:30 to shower and gather my stuff.
Next morning I was out of the house for 09:00, and off to Spoons for a breakfast. Service was quick and the Miners Benedict was fantastic. Basically Eggs Benedict with a nice slice of black pudding underneath. My train was at 14:10, so I had time for a couple of halves before, so visited the Cardinal’s Hat on the slight incline of High Street, after a ten minute delay at the rail crossing for a passenger, and very long freight, train to pass through. As usual a great selection of beers, so the two I chose were Wilde Child’s Sneaky Peak, 4.5% milk stout and Brew York’s Fairytale of Brew York, a lovely 4.9% milk stout.
The time was approaching to leave the city, and on arriving at the station, there was only a ten minute wait for the on-time train home. A pleasant journey, but I was starting to feel tired, so passed on the opportunity to have a pint on arrival home.
Until next time, Lincoln. There is still one or two new ones to visit.
Sheffield CAMRA gathered once again at the Ball, Crookes for their Christmas meal. We were a week early this year to avoid a clash with either football teams fixtures, ensuring a healthy 17 turnout.
Proceedings got off well with a choice of starters, with a choice of pâté, creamy garlic mushrooms or chicken goujon strips. Accompanying this was local Stancill Ginger Pale, a 4% spicy pale ale for myself, and was popular with others.
We gave it ten minutes before the main, a veritable Christmas dinner. Turkey, and the works. Nice gravy and cranberry sauce to compliment it.
After the generous helping, an even bigger rest was required before desserts, so trips to the bar were made. I plumped for the Peak Ales Chatsworth Gold, a nice pale of 4.6%, but Jaipur and other ales were on offer. The desserts, or puddings if local, rolled out, again a good choice of Christmas pudding, brownie or cheesecake with brandy sauce, custard or ice cream.
We felt sated at a bargain £20 for three courses. Will the Ball Inn make it a hattrick next year, who knows, but the good food and fine selection of ales make it a frontrunner.
A few of us made our goodbyes, although we have a branch meet before Christmas, and for some the annual last minute present rush.
Our chair Paul Manning and his wife Bev had a recent short trip to Wales.
We had a weekend stay in a converted chapel at Minnford near Porthmadog calling on the way at the Bleeding Wolf pub near Congleton where we enjoyed a Dizzy Blonde, a pale ale by Robinsons brewery.
After a restful evening we walked into Porthmadog the next morning and enjoyed some lovely sunshine at Spooners Bar on Porthmadog railway station. This Good Beer Guide entry pub was flush with real ale and we enjoyed Moho a 4.3% Welsh pale ale by Mantle brewery, Ceridwen a 3.7% Welsh black ale by Bragdy brewery, Solstice Three Tuns a 3.9% pale by Bishops castle brewery in Shropshire and finally Snowdonia Ale a 3.8% golden pale by the local Purple Moose, brewery.
Suitably refreshed we boarded our Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railway steam train for a 13 mile return journey to Blaenau Ffestiniog. The scenery was very nice especially and surprisingly the slate hillsides. The railway was built to transport the Welsh slate from the hills to the coast. Of course we enjoyed a bottle of the on board Welsh steam ale, a 3.6% pale from Purple Moose brewery.
Arriving back in Porthmadog we visited the town’s other GBG pub entry, the Australia which was Purple Moose brewery’s local tap. Our favourites were Mono citra a 4.6% session IPA being a collaboration brew with Bragdy brewery and Chocolate Moose a 5.6% chocolate and vanilla stout.
We returned home the next day via a short stop at Llandudno for some bracing sea air. We enjoyed a lovely lunch of Welsh cheese rarebit washed down with a pint of Tetleys Dark Mild at the Tynedale hotel on the promenade astonishingly already decorated for its Christmas breaks!
Well-known micropub blogger, Scott Spencer, recently visited Sheffield where he was guided through one of our published pub heritage walks: Little Chicago. He then visited another eleven pubs, mostly new to his blogs. We started at West Bar taking in the excellent, and varied, beer offerings in the Crow, Shakespeare’s and the Kelham Island Tavern while discussing both happenings from the major expansion of Sheffield in the 18th century and episodes from the 1920s Sheffield gang wars. Also mentioned was local art works, the Methodist Church, George Orwell, the 1884 ‘Drinks Map of Sheffield,’ changes in employment patterns and the positive effect of immigration
Kelham Island followed before the Harlequin, the Riverside and a sweep up to Trippet Lane, via 2/6 and Perch. Full details of Scott’s enjoyable time in Sheffield are available at: https://micropubadventures.co.uk/2024/11/02/2-11-24-sheffield-little-chicago/ . He hopes to visit Sheffield for a third blog at some point next Spring.
On this Sheffield visit, Scott was accompanied by Chris, (Editor of Inspire, the Chesterfield CAMRA magazine) and Sheffield and District CAMRA members Dave, Jenny and Malcolm. Details of the Little Chicago walk and the accompanying booklet are available at: https://sheffield.camra.org.uk/rhp/
On 9th November, over forty SCBF48 volunteers enjoyed a celebratory trip to Nottingham. An early start meant we arrived as the pubs opened. Using the map provided, we split into smaller groups and spread across the city centre in order to sample the beery delights available. Personally, I visited three breweries, a couple of micropubs with football references and several other establishments.
The three breweries, Angel Brewhouse, Neon Raptor and Liquid Light provided a range of beer styles, some strong esoteric keg offerings at the Sneinton Market home of Raptor contrasting with more traditional offerings at the Grade II listed, Angel: Angel Delight Pale 4.9% and Hung, Drawn and Quartered Porter 5.2%. Liquid Light operate from an industrial unit on the edge of the city centre, a site which you struggle to find by accident. Their cosy tap room included four cask ales all at the very reasonable price of £3.50/pint, or less. We appreciated the 1972 quote from Ziggy Stardust: ‘Beer light to guide us.’
Partizan, a micropub named after Partizan Belgrade provided Elusive Brewing Leaves (4.2%). Copious memorabilia include a framed programme from an Inter Cites Fairs Cup game at Elland Road in December 1967. Disappointingly, the Kilpin café, named after, English expatriate, Herbert Kilpin, the founder of AC Milan, had neither cask beer nor a reference to the Rossoneri.
Traditional pubs visited included the grade II listed Bell Inn, the small unspoilt Dragon, a Castle Rock renovation, the Fox and Grapes, one-roomed Kean’s Head and a family-run free house, King William IV (King Billy). Overall, an enjoyable day: good company, good pubs, and good beer.
