Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Sheffield

Sheffield – Shakespeares Ale & Cider House

Back on my little expedition around Good Beer Guide listed pubs, I have visited this one before with friends back on 2 November 2019 when I was suitably impressed by the Milky Joe milk stout from Ridgeside Brewing Co, which sadly closed last year. The pub was built as a coaching inn in the 1830s, but Punch acquired it and then managed to have it closed down before it reopened under independent owners in 2011.

The team member was writing this up when I went in, so this might not be entirely complete. There’s a mostly cask option, but numerous craft keg beers to choose from as well.

Quirky and atmospheric and my first beer was the Crimes in Riwaka from Pentrich Brewing Co (Riwaka are a hop from New Zealand) which was punchy and dank, with stonefruit and zestiness to it. It’s not the brightest of pubs in terms of the decor, but I suspect that it would have felt rather more charismatic when customers started to come in. The pub feels old fashioned, but that’s what it’s meant to do, this is a traditional pub with a well curated selection of beers.

The second half pint was the Espresso Stout from Cross Borders Brewing Co, a pleasant tasting stout with a roast coffee flavour, although it was a little thin for the 5.3% ABV.

There are hundreds of beer mats decorating the venue and it’s won numerous awards over the years, both from organisations such as CAMRA and direct from the denizens of Sheffield.

How lovely. It wasn’t very busy when I got there, but it was a wet weekday afternoon and they’d just opened for the day, but the welcome was friendly and personable. A nice pub, although I think matters could be improved with a bar billiards table. Although, I think that, I suspect it’s me thinking about my playing in the World Championships in Sudbury (I mean, where else?) in late March…..

January 28, 2025
Cross Country : Sheffield to York

The image above is of the beautiful York railway station, it’s always a delight to arrive into this glorious location. This was the second part of my trip from Chesterfield, having changed at Sheffield. The service was the 11:29 from Sheffield into York on Cross Country, a trip which was going on to Newcastle.

This is the train after it arrived into York. I had a reserved seat but I, and others as I could hear the confusion, were struggling to work out which of the five coaches was which. There is an electronic display on the side of each carriage, but it’s hard to read and I have no idea why Cross Country don’t just have a clear sheet of paper at least in each carriage. This incompetence moderately annoys me, is it not beyond the wit of any Cross Country manager to change this situation, rather than have tens of people standing confused at the platform? This was the second Cross Country service of the day where I had experienced this problem, so I can’t imagine it’s an isolated incident.

Fortunately my seat was waiting for me, with no-one in it most importantly, and was the table seat that I had requested. There was a power point at the table which worked fine and although a staff member did come through collecting rubbish, the carriage could have been cleaner. But, the train was on time, the staff member was happy and helpful with everything so I wasn’t displeased with the experience. Especially since it had cost around £5.

March 12, 2020
Sheffield – Real Ale in the 1970s

When I was in Sheffield, the locally produced CAMRA magazine, Beer Matters, had been published and it was the five hundredth issue. They were looking back at the history of real ale in the city and in 1975 there was a bar crawl of the city which took in every single real ale being sold. This totalled ten cask beers, of which four were on handpump and six on electric pump, along with a few real ales in bottles. The cost of these beers, and the buses to get between them, cost £3.

We are fortunate indeed for the many volunteers within CAMRA who established the organisation and have ensured we’re not in a similar position today with such a limited choice. The magazine also notes that if someone attempted the same pub crawl today, visiting every pub, it would take at least forty nights and days to complete.

November 23, 2019
Sheffield – Fat Cat

Roger Protz, the great beer writer, wrote that the founder of this pub, Dave Wickett, told him:

“Dave told me a wonderful story of how he bought the Fat Cat, refurbished it and was ready to open but he didn’t have any beer. He phoned Wards, who were still brewing, and none other than the head brewer came round and asked to see the cellar.

“I’ll tell you what I’ll do,” he told Dave. “I’ll put a cellar tank in with pressure points on the bar and away you go.”

“I don’t want that,” Dave said. “I want casks and handpumps.”

“Nobody wants to drinks that anymore,” the man from Wards said and stormed off in a huff. In desperation Dave phoned Timothy Taylor in Keighley and asked if he could buy an 18-gallon cask of Landlord and was told Sheffield was outside the brewery’s delivery area.

So Dave drove to Keighley, put the cask in the boot of his car and took it back to the pub. Two days later he phoned Taylors who said they expected he’d been unable to sell the beer.

“No,” Dave told them. “It went in two days and I want two more casks.”

“In that case, we’ll deliver,”

Taylors said and with just three cask of ale Dave Wickett helped the brewery turn Landlord into a national brand.”

The pub opened in 1981, so this was one of the forerunners of the real ale movement in the city, a brave and innovative decision at the time. There was also an innovative change in 1986, when there was a non-smoking room introduced into the pub, which was the first one in Sheffield.

The Chasing Casks Irish Stout from Kelham Island Brewery, which I recall was well kept, although unfortunately I remember nothing more, other than I marked it as 4 out of 5 on Untappd…. We followed in the problem group from the previous pub into this location, but fortunately they found another place to sit in the pub whereas we found a suitable area elsewhere.

The high tide mark on the side of the pub. There were some floods the week after we visited, although I’m not sure if this area suffered any damage.

The pub was busy, but the staffing was friendly and engaging, with the barman being conversational and knowledgeable about the beer options. All very comfortable and the building itself is quite intriguing, and Nathan managed to walk us round about three rooms before he found the bar. But, I don’t like to comment on such things….

My favourite TripAdvisor review…

“CRAP larger, unfriendly bar staff with no personality made us feel like we was an inconvenience”

This is a win-win when I see a review like this, because I can see it’s a pub that obviously doesn’t sell Stella and lager is mis-spelt far too much….

I liked this pub, although I mildly regret that it was so busy I didn’t get more chance to look at the building itself. CAMRA have a detailed history of the pub and the interior, so perhaps I’ll get to go back in the future to have a better look at this.

November 23, 2019
Sheffield – Harlequin Pub

This was one of the last pubs on our pub trail and it’s part of the Kelham Island tour. The pub was formerly known as the Manchester and it was renamed Harlequin after a nearby pub which had closed and been demolished.

For reasons I’m not quite sure, but are probably related to the exciting Alan Partridge quiz that Liam was excelling at, I forgot to update Untappd and so I can’t recall what I ordered. Nathan will probably know, he has a memory for irrelevant information, but I’m sure it would have been the Sorsby Stout from the Tapped Brewery Company.

As for my usual dip into TripAdvisor, it’s fair to say that this is, well, a rather unusual review…

“A man in toilet on saturday made lewd comments to me, apparantly this is a regular thing in here on a saturday night, this is cottaging and should not be allowed, drinks are well overpriced for a skanky pub, GARBAGE, watch your bum in the toilets, WEIRDOS.”

This was a perfectly welcoming community pub, the prices were reasonable, an interesting selection of beers were available and the staff were friendly enough. But, still, for me the memory will be Liam’s ridiculously detailed knowledge of Alan Partridge….

November 23, 2019
Sheffield – What If Poem by Andrew Motion

Located at Sheffield Hallam University, this is quite a statement…. A different form of art, something quite evocative I thought.

November 22, 2019
Sheffield – Fagans

Not much has changed in this pub for some decades, but that’s all for the good, as it has maintained an historic charm. CAMRA note that the pub has had only three landlords over the last 100 years, not least Joe Fagan, who was Tetley’s longest serving landlord, running the premises from 1947 until 1985. Before the pub was renamed after Fagan, it was known as the Barrel and had been trading since at least the early nineteenth century.

The choice is Tetley’s cask….

Or Abbeydale Moonshine.

An old Tetley’s board in the pub. There is a rear room which has been converted from part of the landlord’s former accommodation, along with a tiny snug to the right when entering, which is apparently also known as the ‘dram shop’. The service in the pub was friendly and we were served quickly, even though the pub was busy. We didn’t eat, and I’m not sure that they were still serving meals, but their reviews for food are excellent.

On reflection, I suspect we were under-charged a little, as this was the cheapest round of the weekend by at least a couple of pounds. We didn’t stay an overly long time as there was live music on and the pub was full, but there was a welcoming and laid-back feel. I do slightly suspect though, good as this pub clearly is, that it might not have made the cut for the Good Beer Guide in other cities, as the choice of real ale is one of two, both of which are commonly seen, it’s solely reliant on the community feel of the location. Although as it’s an institution that should perhaps be visited, I’m glad that I went.

November 22, 2019
Sheffield – Bath Hotel

Listed in the Good Beer Guide, this pub has also been credited by CAMRA as having ‘Nationally Important Historic Pub Interior’ status. This is very much deserved, it’s a quirky two room pub where the old saloon and public bar set-up remains evident. There’s something wonderful about seeing old signage for these bars, it’s a reminder of the pub’s history and also how society has changed over the generations.

There was no need for me to ponder my choice, which was the Cocoa Wonderland chocolate porter from Thornbridge Brewery in Bakewell. I saw this beer in a few pubs over the weekend, it’s a rich tasting beer with a strong chocolate edge, which is, to be honest, a quite marvellous combination.

There were a few signs like this, there was an evident sense of humour and the bar staff were friendly and helpful as well.

Pinching the pub’s own history of their building:

“Our Grade II listed pub dates back to 1867, at one time it appears to have doubled as a grocers and a beer house. The first recorded use of the name ‘Bath Hotel’ was in 1908. Ind Coope bought it up around the time of the First World War and remodelled the interior in 1931, extending the pub part into what had been the grocers. The building today is scarcely altered since 1931 apart from the loss of the off-sales (hence the disused doorway on Victoria Street). In the sharp angle of the streets there is a triangular shaped bar with seating and a hatch servery.”

I didn’t notice the old off-sales door, although it makes sense now that I’ve had a look at the building again on Google Maps.

There’s also an interesting TripAdvisor review, which noted:

“We like this place but we won’t be rushing back. Got here a little early, 11.56, and was pleasantly surprised to find the door was open.”

The pub worked out the time of entry as actually being 11:31, which is a slightly amusing difference, and I can guess which story is most likely to be accurate.

Anyway, this was one of my favourite pubs of all that we visited in Sheffield, the laid-back atmosphere, the sense of history to the building and the excellent beer choice all combined into a not unpleasant visit. Another well deserved entry into the Good Beer Guide if I may say so…. (and I doubt enough people will ever read this to be able to stop me saying so).

November 22, 2019
Sheffield – Banker’s Draft

The final stop of our first night in Sheffield was at Wetherspoons, for a number of reasons, but not least because they open late.

The beer selection was fine, although unusually lacking in darker beer options. The service was though top notch, a friendly and engaging staff member who was keen to answer questions and to comment on Ross’s ridiculous beer selection. The Riders on the Storm beer was also fine, a decent enough golden ale.

A spacious building with high ceilings, as can be guessed from the pub name, it was formerly a bank. Originally operated by the York & County Bank in 1904, it was used by the Midland Bank until 1989 and the building then became redundant. Wetherspoons have helpfully taken photographs of inaccessible parts of the building, including the stabling area in the cellars and the upper offices, a marvellous idea given the history of the pub.

Anyway, onto TripAdvisor. The Wetherspoon’s Christmas meal has, I understand from listening to staff, been a repeat of last year’s debacle, where there’s no gravy provided and it’s all reheated in one go. But, it’s £8.75 including a drink, so there has to be some expectation management going on here. Anyway, one customer from last week isn’t pleased:

“I came in bankers draft with my wife and my parents we all had Christmas dinner and the gravy was like water on 3 and my one had no gravy and told a member of staff about it they said they will get me some gravy but never did and the staff are incompetent as staff never came and asked if everything was ok and you should train your staff in good corporate hospitality and the meat was not from a turkey joint and it was processed meat you need to retrain all your staff from back of house to front of house”

Not from a turkey joint, I can’t say that I’m surprised…

Maybe we got lucky, but the service was some of the best I’ve experienced in a Wetherspoons, so all very lovely.

November 22, 2019
Sheffield – National Videogame Museum

After it became apparent to me that the others wouldn’t consider spending eight hours in Greggs as a suitable activity for the day, we went to the National Videogame Museum. A slightly confused branding meant that they’re pitched it at children, but, fortunately, that wasn’t the actual reality and also, it didn’t matter as some of our group are childish anyway.

Aaaah, an Amiga, such happy memories 🙂

This was quite exciting, as although I’ve played this game many times, it has never been on an actual arcade machine. I can also see how much money these machines must have taken, as I kept on having another go to try and get just a little further each time. That was fine here, as there’s a one-off £11 fee to get in and then everything is on free play. As a place to take kids, it’s not bad at all, primarily as there’s no real way for them to spend more money, as long as they’re kept away from the small shop area at the end of the visit.

Zool, which is one game that I remember, although I appeared to be no better at it twenty years on….

Football Manager is perhaps one of the greatest games ever written as far as I’m concerned, very classy. I note that the author of the game, Kevin Toms, is on Facebook promoting a new app version of the game and I hope that proves to be popular.

As with Space Invaders, I’d never played Tetris on an arcade version and it was no less addictive.

The ridiculously difficult QWOP, which it’s fair to say that I didn’t manage to master. Nathan, irritatingly, was quite good at the game, although I suspect that’s because he’s spent weeks playing it.

Nathan and Scott playing Guitar Hero, or something similar. I can’t remember who won, but they took it very seriously.

Overall, it wasn’t difficult to spend a couple of hours here (although one of our party started to falter after around an hour) and some of us managed to relive our past….. There’s probably more that could be done at the museum given the floor space available to them, but there were numerous consoles and computers from different periods of gaming history, so there was a broad selection already. There’s also more that could be done to tell the story of gaming history, which isn’t really done at all, and that would justify the museum tag a little more.

Hopefully, this is one of those locations which slowly but surely adds to its collections and therefore it gets a little better every year. Given a few more years, it’d be nice to think that all of the floor space is used and there is more of an informational feel to the museum, in addition to engaging children (and adults) with more games to play.

November 22, 2019