Walking. Gossip. Travel.

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Bramley (Rotherham) – War Memorial

There’s something very reassuring about a war memorial which is well tended and looked after. There are 47 names on the First World War list and 17 names on the Second World War list.

A rather lovely little area, very respectful.

The full list of names:

Asbery, E
Baker, R W
Birch, J
Bizby, E
Bradbury, A
Bradley, A
Brown, A
Brown, H
Bucktrout, H
Cakebread, A
Carney, J
Cliff, S
Davison, R
Gratton, J
Guest, S
Hands, J T
Haywood, F
Holmes, A
Holmes, F
Humphries, S
Jackson, A
Limb, T
Locke, J
Locke, M
Lubbock, R
Mangham, C
Mcknight, A
Metcalfe, H
Milns, E
Mirfin, G D
Morley, E M
Mowbray, J
Palmer, W
Parker, J
Parker, S
Parry, A
Perkins, H
Purseglove, F
Rhodes, J
Robinson, P
Rodgers, J L
Ross, H
Sayles, H
Schofield, A
Scholey, T
Scott, Roy Geoffrey
Seneschall, H
Seston, E
Short, J
Short, J H
Smith, A
Smith, J
Smith, S
Taylor, A
Taylor, W
Teale, A
Thornton, G
Thorpe, P
Titley, M
Trotter, F
Walker, D
Walker, W
Waltch, S
Williams, H

January 27, 2025
Sheffield – Hymn to Ninkasi

I noticed this venue on Untappd and it looked like it had an intriguing variety of beers available. They’re primarily a craft beer shop with plenty of bottles and cans to choose from, but they also have three beers on keg to add to the variety. The welcome was friendly, conversational and engaging, although they didn’t have any other customers for the entire time that I was there. They’ve got the 2025 Putty in can and I was hoping that they might have it on draft, but unfortunately not. The environment was clean and comfortable, although the team member said that she was surprised by how few customers had come in. It’s a challenging time of year to be fair, but I hope that they’re doing well generally.

I went for the 2024 edition of the Fairytale of Brew York, one of my favourite breweries. I’ll just copy and paste my Untappd description of the beer as that seems easier:

“I like a bit of smokiness 🙂 sweet, lactose and smooth…. good in short doses. Like me really.”

It’s a really decent venue and they have over 220 different beers available, so there is something that nearly everyone in that mix. They haven’t picked up any negative reviews yet, so they’re obviously doing something of a grand job. There’s an external seating area as well if you can catch the 25 minutes of sun that is available over the next three months, which adds considerably to the total number of seats given how small it is inside.

January 27, 2025
Sheffield – Salt

I’ve been to Salt’s brewery in the sunny town of Saltaire and this is their outpost in the Kelham Island area of Sheffield. Note the rather lovely gateway, although it’s hard to miss, which the brilliant Nikolaus Pevsner said was the “most spectacular survival of factory architecture in the city”.

Some of the keg range.

And some of the cask range, with Ossett being one of the owners of Salt Brewery, hence their presence here.

The Alpacalypse from Salt, a clean tasting pale which has some fruit flavour to it, slightly lemony. There was a bit of sweetness and it’s certainly sessionable, I imagine quite agreeable to the lager drinkers as well.

The Jet from Ossett Brewery, a oaty, roasty real ale with a bit of coffee taste to it.

It’s a busy venue with a younger crowd buying lagers and it wasn’t quite clear to me why they’d pick here over anywhere else. The food option is Seoul Chicken which looked rather agreeable on the menu, although I didn’t see anyone ordering anything when I was there. Decent mix that though, craft beer and chicken.

Anyway, all rather lovely and I found it useful to charge devices as they’ve conveniently put lots of power points all over the place. The service was friendly, the venue was clean and the atmosphere was inviting. The venue was formerly known as Stew & Oyster, but then they decided not to sell oysters and so it made some sense to change the name. Always positive (well, nearly always positive) to see a mixture of cask and keg.

January 27, 2025
Warsaw – Popeyes

I’d better add the caveat here that I’m aware that there are better restaurants available in Warsaw, and I’ve gone through probably hundreds of them over the last decade, but I was moderately surprised to see an outlet of Popeye’s opening in the Polish capital. They opened their first venue in Wrocław in July 2023, which is a reminder to myself that it’s years since I’ve been to that rather lovely city and I must go back. They now have around ten venues and are rolling out more across Poland at the moment, as part of an international expansion. I first tried Popeyes in New Orleans around a decade ago and have kept fond memories of it.

One of the reasons I found it handy to pop here was that I needed to charge my devices up and they have power points. Everything seemed clean and ordered, with team members visibly cleaning the venue on a regular basis.

I ordered via a kiosk, but you can order at the counter if preferred.

Served promptly and looking delicious, the chicken tenders in the bag were moist and tender. The chicken wings were cold so I took those back, but they politely immediately made me more without querying the matter, and they were much better, although not anything to write home about. I’m not sure that things are quite as smooth as in their UK and US outlets, but I suspect that they’ll give KFC something of a run for their money. The reviews are a little mixed here and there are a few people disappointed that they’ve made the menu a little Polish orientated rather than offering some of the US options such as shrimp.

Anyway, there’s some more food content as I’ve been writing too much about bridges.

January 26, 2025
Rotherham : Bailey Bridge (and the chaos of litter in Rotherham)

In my quest for ever more riveting content (and rivets sort of have a link here) I’ve been to a bridge in Rotherham. This isn’t the bridge I’m making reference to, but it’s good exercise as there’s another bridge behind this one (sort of visible in the photo) to get to it.

It’s this one. It’s a surviving Bailey Bridge and it’s particularly appropriate here, as Sir Donald Coleman Bailey was born in the town and was educated at Rotherham Grammar School. This one was used during the Second World War and was acquired from the army for £300, paid for by Rotherham Council and Rawmarsh UDC, opening in 1947.

As this board notes, the bridge is strong enough to hold a tank.

On a more unfortunate note, the litter problem in Rotherham is unlike anything else I’ve seen before as it seems to be nearly everywhere. These photos just happen to be either end of the bridge I went to visit, but it feels like this throughout the town.

A once beautiful riverbank.

There are tens of thousands of pieces of litter in a relatively small area, the council appears to have entirely lost control and this is repeated throughout the bits of the town that I’ve walked through (which is quite a lot for various reasons this weekend). This article refers to a different park nearby, but hopefully the next generation will be a little more caring towards the environment. Anyway, it’s a nice bridge and as part of the development of Forge Island in the town they’ve commissioned a new Bailey bridge which is now in position. That’s the end of my posting about bridges in Rotherham I think unless I happen across another interesting one.

January 26, 2025
Rotherham : Bluecoat

I first visited here in November 2024 and since I’m in the area again, and knowing that it’s in the cheapest JD Wetherspoon price bracket I thought that I’d pop in again. It’s listed in the Good Beer Guide and it was built as a Bluecoat charity school, but was turned into a pub in 1981 and JD Wetherspoon took it over in 2001. Following the closure of the now burnt out Rhinoceros pub in the town, this is the only pub that the chain have in Rotherham now.

This breakfast, unlimited coffee and half a pint of real ale came to the grand total of £5.18, which is some impressive value. And it tasted delicious, I’m not really one for full English breakfasts (or breakfasses as they seem to be called when customers order more than one) but I rather like the arrangement here.

The on-line reviews are generally very good, averaging 4.2 out of 5 on Google.

“It went from bad to worse, we ordered food and drinks using the app straight to our table – one drink was a pepsi max and one was pepsi. The guy brought the drinks over and one of the drinks had a lemon in, assuming this was a marker for which drink was which I asked which one was the full fat drink. The server said ‘I don’t know, sniff them’. At first I thought he was joking so laughed it off, until he walked off with nothing else to say”

This one I’ve seen variations of in numerous pubs in the chain.

“Ordering via app is a nightmare. Can’t make any changes at all to food order (dietary requirements etc), no way to request food without an ingredient etc. Tried to speak to bar staff in person and all we got was “you can’t make changes. Also, the food was disgusting.”

I’m guessing they tried to take out an ingredient of a meal that’s going to be cooked in the microwave….

“I work within the funeral service, after a long hard day at work. In the 19,5,2021, i was lucky enough to be out on a first date with a gorgeous lady. We decided to go and use one of your establishments (bluecoats rotherham).

Upon placing our order which was two large portions of scampi and chips, with a side plate of garlic bread. waiting for the service. After twenty minutes, the food arrived.

The order was wrong, the kitchen staff had sent one large portion and one small. After i pointed out the fact that there should have been two large portions. The small plate was taken away..
Thus leaving the large portion and garlic bread at our table..

Now to reiterate that i was on a date, i wasn’t thinking that for me to consume my meal would have been a ideal way to impress the lady I was with.. As she was left plate less.

After 15 minutes of waiting, of course now, the two plates are cold upon the table. So i called over the waiter, whom after a short and polite conversation, said he would take the plates and replace them under the kitchen heat light.

Now in so far as my limited knowledge of food preparation, is it safe to reheat fish products or indeed is it acceptable to even reheat any food products thereafter???

Upon hearing what the waiter was planning, i took decisive actions to ensure that i was able to have the reheated food, passed back to me.. i pulled the scampi apart.
And said that all three plates should be served at the same time.

We ordered food approximately 8.05 pm .. 8.55pm fifty minutes after placing our first initial order, still our table is merely adorned by pints of Carling (with a dash of lime). Lets not forget that this is a first date and still we haven’t been able to have a late evening meal… So releasing that it was a wasted opportunity for us to relax and have a good time. I called for the manager (Shaun) to come and i gave him the opportunity to explain what the problem was?

Upon which I was unfairly accused, of being nasty to two members of his staff. Which I then asked who i had apparently upset.. to which he retorted that he didn’t need to justify anything… he then claimed that I was being rude towards himself, which indeed i wasn’t.. The lady i was with can clarify this to be fact .. i was left feeling despondent as to how i was mad eto feel and highly disrespected in front of the whole public house…

I asked for a refund and left, luckily enough for me and my date, all was not lost. We enjoyed our meal at the local KFC…

I would like to Express my discontent and anger as to how i was spoken to and how the manager tried to publicly show me up..

I remained in my seat at all times, i didn’t raise my voice during the conversation, i didn’t personally insult anyone, i didn’t swear.. I i didn’t wish to be treated as i was.”

I have no words, but I hope that the date went well.

“Absolutely a disgrace the decor was very dark and dismissal decided not to eat surely if this was a “weather spoon” pub why isn’t they a dress code and the customers that it attracted were from the angel and county brough very low life will not set foot in this place ever again !!!”

Dress code? Seems aspirational.

In terms of the real ale, there are seven on at the time of writing, the Ruddles and Abbot Ale from Greene King, as well as Doom Bar from Sharp’s being the regular beers. The four rotating ales are the Ossian from Inveralmond, the Odin’s Gold from Rudgate, the Midnight Bell from Leeds Brewery and the Cavendish from Welbeck Abbey. I went for half a pint of the Midnight Bell which was roasty, malty and had a bit of liquorice taste to it, well-kept and smooth.

It’s a venue with history, the staff seem friendly, it’s clean, the prices are low and the real ale selection is decent. All really rather lovely.

January 26, 2025
Stafford : Sun Inn

At the end of December, I had a spare hour in Stafford and was able to tick off another Titanic pub which is conveniently also a Good Beer Guide listed pub. Previously known as the Tequila Red and O’Neill’s, the Titanic Brewery took this existing, albeit closed, pub over in 2010 and they’ve been able to develop it into a popular community venue.

Every community needs a Titanic pub.

There’s Cherry Porter, my favourite of the mainstream Titanic beers.

Ooooh, and a decent selection of crisps.

The beer board and the prices all seem reasonable to me.

I found space in a little snug. It was a busy venue and they were serving out a fair amount of food, so I was pleased to find anywhere to sit.

Here we go, my delicious, rich, smooth Cherry Porter alongside some agreeable mature cheddar and red onion crisps.

The reviews on-line are nearly all positive, other than a recent one which gave 1 star and commented “I do not recommend this pub as the prices are excessive and had no entertainment”. The prices are excessive only in comparison to Wetherspoons and perhaps they should lay on a dancing band…. Anyway, most people seem happy and I was for what that’s worth.

The pub created a comfortable, almost sophisticated, atmosphere, with the Titanic beers of course being something of a plus.

January 26, 2025
Stafford : The Picture House

I had a spare hour in Stafford for the second time in a few weeks, the first time I went to the Good Beer Guide listed Titanic pub and this time I went to the town’s JD Wetherspoon pub. As it’s suitably comprehensive, I will use the extensive JD Wetherspoon history of the former cinema in which this pub is now sited.

“Built for the local independent exhibitor Goodalls Pictures, the Picture House opened on 23 February 1914, showing The House of Temperley. Blending in with the historic town, the façade has a centrally located gable decorated in Tudor-style half-timber beams in black and white. There is a decorative wrought-iron canopy, which has stained-glass letters spelling out the name Picture House to the front of the building. The original ticket office remained in use throughout its life and is still there today. There was another ticket office down the side of the building, which served customers in the front stalls seating, and this remained in use until the last few years of the cinema’s operation.

Inside the auditorium, seating was arranged on a stadium plan, with a raised stepped section at the rear. There is a barrel-vaulted ceiling, which has decorative bands of plaster. In August 1917, a French-built Reed Organ de Luxe Mustel ‘Celesta’ concert organ was installed and opened by Birmingham organist Mr CW Perkins. The Picture House was equipped for ‘talkies’, and the first to be shown here was The Last of Mrs Cheyney, starring Norma Shearer on 19 April 1930. In July 1930, the Everston family purchased the Picture House, and they operated it for the remainder of its cinematic life.

The town of Stafford only had one circuit-owned cinema, the Odeon, and the Picture House usually played the ABC release or had a choice of independent releases. It had a new proscenium opening installed in June 1955, when Cinemascope was fitted. Otherwise, the building retained it character through the years. In 1989, the Picture House was designated a Grade II listed building by English Heritage.

The Picture House was closed on 30 March 1955 after a three-week run of Disclosure, starring Michael Douglas. There were 78 attending the final performance. The building was purchased by JD Wetherspoon and, after planning permission was approved, was then converted into The Picture House public house, which opened 6 March 1997.”

JD Wetherspoon have a reputation for their sensitive and careful renovations and refurbishments to building and this one is no different. They’ve maintained the old ticket desk at the front of the venue and there were plenty of cinema posters dotted around the place.

The real ale selection.

I think that looks quite impressive. Note the white screen above the bar, as they still sometimes show films at the pub.

Some old seats, which I assume are from here.

The projector.

Every JD Wetherspoon pub has its own carpet, this seems like one of the better ones to me.

I went for the Ossian from Inveralmond Brewery, well kept and light with a little bit of a toffee flavour to it. And a bargain at £1 for a half pint.

I’ve got this riveting and really rather very dull theory that you can get a measure of how well managed a JD Wetherspoon venue is from its Google review score. Decent ones seem to be scoring around 4.1 to 4.3, whereas poorer ones are between 3.7 to 3.9. Big data and all that….. This one is at 4.2, so all seems good.

“First ever time I went to the picture house and last time I will go to the picture house. Ordered drinks beer cappuccino and hot chocolate ,pizza and some fry up for my son and some things that looked like chicken and coleslaw.food came before drinks then one mug was cracked and dirty coffee machine was defective tried 3 times to get a cappuccino and the taste was vile think they did not clean it right I spoke to a female about it and she said no milk in the machine and in general did not care as clearly did nothing no sorry no we can give you something else or a refund on the two drinks.the chips were well over cooked as well as the chicken strips that must of been bought from Iceland or Tesco’s the coleslaw tasted and looked vile and I mean vile and I love coleslaw.my sons steak or cat looked rubber and he just had trouble cutting it.”

Vile I tell you, vile…

“Breakfast was cold, bacon was cooked to the inch of its life, looked like the grill needed a good clean black bits merged with the burnt edges. Vile.”

Another vile.

“Really vile Rude manager half our age. Told off for playing with our autistic daughter (whilst sat down at a table) and she accidentally broke a glass. He then stormed over told us not to mess around, proceeded to wipe the drink off the table onto my lap and told us to move whilst making snide remarks. We ended up Leaving instead of ordering a meal. We are regulars but we won’t be back again. He needs some customer service training!”

And another. This must be a very on-trend word in Stafford.

“the app glitched as i was ordering a curry and it made me pay for two curry’s, as soon as i realised about 30 seconds after i had paid, i went straight down to the waitress and she said she couldn’t give me a refund as it’s my fault and she was quite rude, even though the app glitched so it wasn’t my fault. she also said the food has already been made so the food clearly isn’t fresh if it had already been made after a minute. the curry was also cold. i also emailed the wetherspoons asking again for a refund but they also said the same thing even though this wasn’t my fault. i would not recommend going here”

I think I’d be annoyed too, but then I’d just eat the second curry.

“Had done my shopping before stopping off for lunch, had one of the employees rudely tell me I couldn’t eat my own food in the pub. Not sure where he got the idea I was preparing to whip out my loaf of bread and 2lt bottle of milk. Do people regularly bring their own food when they go to the wetherspoons? Your food can’t be that bad.”

I would love to know the back story. Anyway, I’m digressing once again….

In summary to the whole arrangement, I rather enjoyed this visit, the venue is impressive, the beer selection was decent and the quality of the ale was high. Then I has to rush back for my train, which was promptly delayed.

January 26, 2025
Blackpool : End of Yates….

There is no shortage of derelict buildings in Blackpool, but it seems sad when a beautiful building like this is left to go ruin. Yates has another venue in the centre of Blackpool, but this one closed in March 2022 and was put up for sale for £900,000. I think it’s a fair guess to suspect that there weren’t many takers at the time.

If they don’t repair the building soon, it’s not clear that it’ll be able to be saved.

An urban explorer’s look at the building from a few months ago.

January 24, 2025
Blackpool : Storm Éowyn (Part 2)

Well, that was bloody dreadful. I had intended to walk along the seafront to the railway station, but it was genuinely impossible as the wind was blowing me off my feet and I’m hardly lightweight. I walked along the road parallel and that was challenging enough, not helped by the amount of debris flying about. A lovely lady crossed the road to tell me that I should cross over as there were tiles coming off a roof (just visible in the photo above) which was kind. I also started talking to one of the refuse collectors and he said that they were out working as the bins were flying everywhere and they were trying to secure them. Proper hard working refuse crew that, they were struggling to stand and were having to almost catch bins.

I hardly dare take many photos as I worried the wind might blow my phone out of my hands, but there were bins all over the place and debris was going everywhere where bins had spilled over.

More on this later, but I got to the railway station to find my train cancelled, although I’m making progress towards Sheffield now. I made such slow progress that I was glad to have left plenty of time to get to the railway station. Stay safe out there and all that….

January 24, 2025