Sheffield Pub Explorations

A second day in Sheffield, which was to include a former National Pub of the Year, heritage pubs, a crafty micro and a zapiekanka, whatever that is.

Our morning was spent learning about the Industrial Revolution and looking at some big steam engines in the Kelham Island Museum, handily around the corner from the Kelham Island Tavern...

Kelham Island Tavern (62 Russell Street, Sheffield, S3 8RW - web)
I think I've been here before, but I'm not entirely sure.  If I have, it would have been post-football on a Saturday afternoon and certainly wouldn't have been as quiet as we found it on this visit.  Other than us there are just a few chaps in the corner, a couple of folk sitting reading the paper, and the workmen traipsing through after parking their van out front to scupper my picture.

The Kelham Island Tavern won the accolade of CAMRA National Pub of the Year in 2008 and 2009, having only been saved from dereliction in 2002, years before all the modern building projects began to spring up in the area.
There was a fine range of beers covering various styles, with several from the local Blue Bee Brewery.  It was their US-style 6% IPA 'Life in a Glass House' which I opted for - good beer in top condition.

No-one propping up the bar

Mrs PropUptheBar was perusing her phone for food options whilst in the pub.  It seems the previous plan to look for Sheffield's best curry had been abandoned and she wanted Polish fast food.  And she wasn't to be deterred by a walk, although I don't think she realised quite how uphill that walk would be.

Finishing our beers, we hiked into the city suburbs and made our way up Pitsmoor Road.
It turned out the little European fast food joint we were headed to was located in a one-time pub (the Tollgate Inn, if my research is correct), now looking a little battered around the edges.

There's a food store to one side, whilst Zapiekarnia is through a door hidden away on the left hand side with 'Public Bar' etched in the glass.
We got to eat Zapiekanka - long open baguettes, especially designed to ensure that I spill half the topping down my shirt.   Tasty and enjoyable though, with the added bonus of Polish electro-folk played slightly too loud on the radio whilst we ate.

 

Taking a different route back down Rutland Road, we branched off on a footpath to the right, traversing the hillside.  Great views of Sheffield from up here - shame we didn't catch it in the sunshine.

Along these tracks we reached the old slopes of the ski village, abandoned since 2012 after being the victim of continued senseless vandalism and arson.
This was one of the first places I wobbled down unconfidently on a snowboard back in the nineties, so it's a shame to see its sorry fate.

Hmmm... lunchtime boozing, Polish fast food joints, tripping over treacherous bits of metal sticking out of derelict dry ski slopes...  I'm not going to get the gig writing the weekend newspaper travel section '24-hours in Sheffield' article, am I?

We headed back down through the Neepsend industrial buildings, resisting the temptation to pop back into Heist as we pass, then crossing the Don.  Beyond the tram lines was our next destination, the Wellington pub...

The Wellington (1 Henry Street, Sheffield, S3 7EQ)
We arrived just prior to the 3pm opening time, ready to be first in when the door was unbolted.  Which is nice for being able to amble around and take a couple of pictures, but I began to wish we'd seen it with a few more people and a buzz of conversation.  With no background music it was oh so quiet, except for the rattle of trams as they passed by outside.

Most of the ales came from Neepsend Brewery, although I picked the guest ale by the Nightjar Brew Co - 'Luigi and the Wise Guys' - picking my drinks based purely on wacky names.

The pub dates back to 1839, with changes to the layout made in 1940.  It feels every bit the unspoilt traditional city pub, consisting of two rooms and the bar in a drinking lobby.  There's nice fixed seating around the walls, proper pub stools and pictures and mirrors promoting by-gone brewing giants.

The beer mats were great, advertising the Neepsend Brewery with three different designs showing the pubs in the small Sheaf Inns chain: The Wellington, Sheaf View and Blake Hotel.
"Don't put it in your pocket, the guy at the bar is watching you like a hawk!" whispered MrsPropUptheBar.  And he was.  Crikey, I must look more suspicious that I thought.
I diligently asked if I could take some, and they're now ready to be added to the growing wall of beer mats in our spare room.

Uh-oh, the tegestologist in me is resurfacing!

We were in Pub Heritage mode, as we headed across the city in search of the Bath Hotel.

Which we found with its lights off and door firmly locked shut.  A quick search of their Facebook page and we found a message posted an hour before the scheduled opening time apologising that they'd be staying shut today.  Bah!

A Heritage back-up then...

The Grapes (80 Trippet Road, Sheffield, S1 4EL - web) 
Built in 1821, this is a traditional Irish pub which you'd probably guess if approaching from the side with the big Guinness mural.
Confusingly the pub sign reads 'Flynns' rather than the Grapes, this being a reference to the Flynn family who have owned the pub for over 40 years.  From experience, I tend to really like pubs with more than one name, and the windows were looking good...

The bar is situated down a lavish corridor with some nice tilework and colourful lampshades.  From here three rooms lead off, all with every bit of wall space filled with pictures and mirrors, rugby shirts and plates, and various other assorted bits 'n' bobs.  We settled down in the corner of the moodily-lit front room with a pint of the sole cask beer, Stancil Brewery's 'Barnsley Bitter'.  No complaints about the beer, which passed my quality test and went down well - a decent traditional best bitter.

The main corridor at the Grapes - liking those lampshades!

There was some decent background music in the Grapes - the Cranberries and Fontaines DC representing the Emerald Isle, Pulp representing Sheffield, and the Beatles and the Verve the North-West.

The Grapes has it's own place in Sheffield musical history - firstly as a folky music venue for many a year, with sessions still taking place regularly in the back room.  But mainly as the place that the Arctic Monkeys made their debut live appearance back in 2003.  They played a 25-minute set in the upstairs function room on the 13th June that year.

The Grapes proved an enjoyable pub visit, making up for the disappointment that the Bath Hotel wasn't open.

Just time to squeeze a crafty micro onto the end of the post (although not enough space, or good pictures, to include the subsequent walk in the dark to the Blind Monkey and Raven).

The Bar Stewards (163 Gibraltar Street, Sheffield, S3 8UB - web)
A bit of a contrast from the previous pubs, we followed the current Good Beer Guide and found our way to Bar Stewards - a micro with a range of cask and keg beers on offer.
The pressure is on to have a decent beer list when the Shakespeare is directly across the road...

13.5% banana impy stout - I don't even know why I bothering turning to Mrs PropUptheBar and asking what she wanted!

I picked the DEYA 'Meet me in the City' for myself, simply because it's not the Steady Rolling Man that I normally see.  

Mrs PropUptheBar persuaded me to go back for the Pomona Island 'Ti Esriever dna ti pilf', because we can't leave without trying an 11% Jamaican Ginger Cake stout.
Strewth - no wonder the picture is lop-sided and it took us so long to get up the hill to the Blind Monkey!

Next Up: A chilly diversion into the Peak District