Two short Sheffield pub crawls

Art-noo,

     in the last week I have been out a few times. Well, to be fair, its more than a few. I remain, as well as have been, a very thirsty chap lets face it.  Here though are details of two recent such ventures in libation, in sunny, snazzy Sheffield.

The first starts at a micropub. The Beer House on Ecclesall Road was Sheffield's second after Crookes Ale House and then Walkley Beer Co, and is very much symptomatic of its environs. That isn't a criticism, since Walkley Beer Co is as well. If anything its complimentary to recognize that a micropub manages to stick within the unwritten micropub "rules" as well as being popular locally. On this visit I had a pint of Bad Co Ace Gravity IPA and listened in on the conversations around me. Always a nice place to pop in, despite their Twitter claim of being Sheffield's first Micropub.....!

I walked from here towards town and then up to the Bath Hotel,  where I met Tash. I bought her a pint of the Hopjacker Steel City Brewing collaboration End of Days, an American Sour Brown. It was odd. Not as sour as I like it, but not as sweet or malty as a brown. Tash liked it more. After trying a pint of Blackjack which was quite tasty I tried the Jaipur on Keg - it tasted of paracetamol and soda water so I swapped it - very generously for a pint of Cloudwater Porter at 6.5% which was lovely. Any ideas what has gone wrong with Jaipur?

We caught the bus to Walkley next and went to the Closed Shop for food. We had pints of Blue Bee Ginger for Tash and Into the Void for me and both got Fish and Chips. Absolutely cracking! The tastiest fish I have had for a long time, lovely and tender with thrice cooked chips and mushy peas. Went down perfectly.

We finished the crawl over the road in the Hallamshire House. We had pints of Thornbridge Melba and Crackendale, and sat on a table with young persons in the back. We also tried a half of Thornbridge Jaipur X, no doubt expertly kept aside for months by the Man of Ash - this proved that despite experiences in 2016, not all Jaipur now tastes woeful. We finished on a bottle of Cloudwater IPA that I espied in the fridge - it may have been a bretted version, I couldn't read the label, but it was still lovely. A fab end to the night.

The next crawl started in Shakespeares - why of course! Myself and Tash were on pints of the ultimate sour beer, the Celt Experience Llamass Harvest at 5. something and £4.20 a pint. We thoroughly enjoyed it taking the enamel off our teeth and making our jaws and palates ache - and that isn't sarcasm.

Off for a change to the Ship Inn next, we haven;t been there for a while so it was nice to have a revisit. The pub no longer does food, or pork scratchings so the only sustenance is crisps - a pack of chorizo each followed with our pints, BrewDog Punk IPA for Tash and a Titanic White Star for me. Not as  busy as previously, although January and February weeknights are notoriously quiet, I was a little underwhelmed by the experience. I also didn't rate the beer range, as is often the case. A few older customers came in later and that livened the place up a little, but I think the next 6 months will be key for the Ship. Best of luck!

We went to the Kelham Island Tavern next and took advice on what was best and/or hoppiest. In a recurrent but unsurprising outcome I can't in fact remember what I had! It was however delicious. After I repeated Tash's pint order and we had devoured some delicious scotch eggs, we finished on a pint of the Kernel Simcoe Pale Ale on keg which was everything we hoped it would be. Fine hoppy goodness.

The above demonstrates the range of real ales and keg beers of all kinds available in just seven pubs in Sheffield, and we didn't even venture further than Ecclesall Road. Just a lovely way to spend a few hours each time chatting and catching up and generally putting the world to rights.

More information coming soon about a Saturday spent whiling away the hours in other Sheffield boozers.

Cheers!

Wee Beefy

Re-closed Closed Shop reopening.....

  Yes, I know.

                I did this silly alliterative gag last time, and its a bit cheap and sad to do it again. So, um...well, sometimes its best to just stick to what you know.

Anyhoo this is just a quick post to convey precisely all of the above information in the title in a slightly longer and less user friendly format. So you may wish to read on....

The Closed Shop on Commonside only reopened in February but had already built up a good reputation (some hairy man even blathered on about it in a magazine or something) and now, after 3 weeks being closed, the pub is to reopen following a refurbishment, on Thursday 25th July at 18.00.

I'm sure Mr Stephens will be thick skinned enough to see the "hilarious" irony of him not being able to close the pub for refurbishment as intended, back when winter was still upon us, and instead having to close at the very beginning of a three week heatwave. I mean, you gotta laugh... (optional). Still, with any luck there will be more shiny hot weather to come so the beer garden will once again be available to enjoy, along with the no doubt equally shiny new interior, topped off with an expanded range of real ales.*

Other promised changes include the new kitchen which will see them able to serve food  -  a source close to the business confirmed that previously, the kitchen not existing had rendered the preparation of food in it an impossible task, but that the installation of a kitchen had been considered the most logical step to overcoming the problem of their not having one. Despite my insider knowledge, I'm not certain of exactly when the food menu will be available -  but I can bet a substantial amount of money on there being plenty of good quality beer on when the official reopening gets underway.

There is also to be an exhibition of artwork at the pub from Thursday through until 1st October - for ease of reference, here is a link to a website from the Internet regarding the same.  

Hopefully some of you can join the glitterati of the Sheffield real ale and pub scene, along with myself,  tomorrow night, for a much deserved welcome back to the redoubtable Shop.


Wee Beefy

*subject to my having remembered this right. AKA research.....

How to constructively utilise the bank holiday weekend.

Hello,

          well, so finishes another refreshing bank holiday where I laboured under the laughable delusion that I might not end up using it as a massive 72 hour alcoholic sponge, but instead an opportunity to do something constructive. To be fair, I did - I cut the hedge (and the hedge trimmer wires, like a bellend), I did some cleaning and I worked overtime. I also hosted a friend for a night of offal and alcohol and took some photographs. In reality though, these were just supporting turns to the unfolding acts of libation.

Official relaxation begin Friday night but that's a separate post. Saturday, in a move that made people think it was in fact Friday, I was at work doing something I hear people describe as "overtime". No idea why I chose such a lovely weekend to spend 6 hours indoors but at least it made me ready for a pint afterwards. Luckily, there was no shortage  of potential venues.

Shakespeares has a beer yard and around 14.00 it gets the sun. So I popped in, bought a pint of Revolutions Brew Severin Mild and sat outside delighting in remembering what sitting in hot sun feels like. Alas the Severin didn't stick round long so I headed back to the bar to replenish - returning with a half of something from Wansum Brewery, and a half of Ommegang Hennepin saison, at a not terribly practical 7.7%. I needed to be back for 5ish to start prepping the meal. This had the potential to get messy.

I got chatting to a couple with an large friendly dog (sorry couple with a large friendly dog, but in not having tattooed your names on my arms I'm afraid they escape me...) and this preempted another round of Wansum and Ommegang, before finally finishing on a half of Black Iris Top Hard. Nice to see the Iris about, but the felt-tip pump clip was never going to match up to their usual output.

Sunday dawned sunny so I did a bit of hedge (and other) cutting before heading off to town about 15.00. My rewarding trip out was annoyingly stalled by my realising I forgot my wallet, just as I got of the bus in town. When, after going home and back, I finally arrived at the Sheffield Tap, it had been a pointless 2 hour trip. Time to catch up...

Here I had a pint of Tapped Brewing Co Growler Citra Pale ale and a half of the Tapped and Thornbridge collaboration Lady Grey (I think) unfiltered IPA. A stonking strong pale ale with an odd but not unpleasant aftertaste that went down well, even better when mixed with the Growler. I got another round of this just to robustly test the theory then had a pint of Magic Rock High Wire and half a Tapped Brew Co Miami Weiss whilst sitting in the sunshine, chatting to Dada Ems about the important things in life. Like beer, for instance.

The Closed Shop welcomed me next via the worst portion of chips imaginable from the grumpy Chinese nearby. Here I caught up with Dave on her quiz reading debut, and had a lovely pint of something which the overwhelming fear of having to listen to a quiz at all completely erased. I would have stopped to talk to various fine folk and drank more had I not been desirous of running away. Jim at the Alma at Mosborough set the tone for pub quizzes. Its really not worth competing.

My final stop was the Bath Hotel where I sat in dusky seclusion in the lovely snug with the cold blue night of the set sun falling beautifully onto the blue upholstered seating and scrubbed tables. Accompanying me was a rather splendid pint of Hawkshead Windemere Pale Ale.

Monday was an even later start as I finished hedge pushing (with  my spare but blunt hedge trimmer which is about as effective as stroking the foliage with a spoon) before finally escaping at 6PM for a late one. I started at Shakespeares with a pint of Steel City Walpurgis Nacht. This hefty hoppy dark wheat beer was a pleasing if slightly OTT starter so I went for something pale and had a pint of the Sheffield brewing Co EFA IPA. Usually their IPA series beers are pretty good but this was really disappointing.

Amid the crescendo of noise form the loudest and most overbearing people on earth in the bar, I finished on a pint of Little Valley Stoodley Stout, which was excellent, before heading for the Wellington. Here I had a pint of their rather brilliant Little Ale Cart Sorachi, a Sorachi Ace and Citra pale ale late hopped with Herkules. I also found time for a half of their mild, which was very enjoyable, if not strictly really a mild at all.

Next I ill advisedly struggled skywards on Upperthorpe before popping out at Commonside and heading to the Hallamshire House. I only had a quick half of Jaipur here because for some reason the Thornbridge beers I like never seem to have been on when I pop in, and this was another such occasion. Across the road at the Closed Shop it was dark beers all round with my having a couple of pints of the Lincoln Green Tuck Porter, nd a refreshing half of Whittlebury Amarillo, before Chris persuaded me (a bit) to try an absurdly strong yet  rounded 46 year old whisky from, erm, a distillery. I had a pint and a half of water with that double, which seemed scarily large, and i think this may have been what got me home. An excellent end to the session but probably a very bad idea.

Luckily for my liver its 3 months til the next bank holiday, so for now I'll just have to remember how much I've enjoyed these last three sunny days, whilst staring out of the rain lashed window at work, or struggling through icy stair rods on the way there and back, until the next one.

Cheers!

Wee Beefy.

Ploughmen at the pub with pals.

Hello,

       the Closed Shop at Commonside held a "Ploughmans" evening last night. I was invited by people from the real world and decided it would be a nice change to attend. I say a change. Going to the Closed Shop is hardly an unusual step for me. Neither is drinking beer. Or eating a bit of pork pie. Or becoming a trifle refreshed and boarding a late night bus. Or drinking Blue Bee tangled Up IPA. So, admittedly none of that was a change. The cheese and crackers was though. Except, I had them at Bedlam bar last month. So, erm...

Anyway, the regularity of its constituent parts matters not. It was £6.00 a go, you got delicious food from local suppliers and a free pint. It was all tremendously exciting, and done with friends. In fact it was rather good.

Snap wise, Urban Pantry supplied 3 cheeses, oak smoked Wensleydale, Colton Basset Stilton (or Cropwell Bishop, I confess I don't know which one of the two I had) and Dewley Farm Lancashire. Also provided were spiced apple chutney from Just Preserves and chicken liver pate from Findlaters Fine Foods, as well as pickled onions from a jar, which were, like the Seabrooks cheese and onion crisps, of unspecified origin. There was also pork pie and a steak slice (or veggie alternative) from legendary apostrophe experts Kevin's pies, and finally, an ice cream free Cornetto and a wowipob, as Doctor Hibbert would say.

It all came in plastic containers like a lunchbox, and the sight of loads of people crowded together (a little) opening boxes and taking out their food and chattering away was reminiscent of a school lunch time. Except the food was nice. And no-one had semolina.

The free pint was a good deal when you consider you could use it to get Blue Bee Tangled Up IPA, which at £3.30 a pint makes your Ploughmans £2.70. Please note, Neil, that I don't consider an apostrophe is necessary as the food does not belong to a ploughman that I own, or indeed any ploughman, and also is the name of the assembled ingredients, thus can be a straight forward plural. So nerr...

Anyway, I had arrived before seven to "check out the scene" and demolished a rather tasty pint of Blue Bee Nectar Pale whilst awaiting my troughing and slaking companions, Gav, Clare, Neil and Jane. All too soon however, the drink had mysteriously disappeared so I had to have a pint of Blue Bee Tangled Up. When all had arrived we got to grips with the ticket system.

Now, working as I do for a dysfunctional entity where even the simplest processes are rendered needlessly complicated, I was amused at the idea of buying a ticket, to exchange for your Ploughmans, and two further tickets, one for each half to which you were entitled. Especially since, prior to being given their tickets, plenty of people wanted their first half of beer to be paid for with one of said tickets, whilst others in their group, paying together, wanted to use both of them, and others none. Cue a dizzying yo yo of paper stubs and a wry smile from me.

To be fair though the staff needed to keep track so the idea was along the right lines. As was mine, which included drinking more Tangled Up, and the Titanic Cappuccino stout which was very pleasant.

The food was a hearty snack (as promised), and although it could have done with a few more crackers it was still very tasty (and lets face it, had it come with a surfeit of crackers and almost no cheese, that would have been far worse). And the cheese was very nice. Especially the Stilton, with just the right amount of shoe in summer on the nose...

Thanks to my friends for great company and to the Closed Shop for putting on something a bit different. I look forward to attending the next themed night, the "Tavern Haunter Night", in which I arrive at the pub, and drink lots of beer. Entrance free. The next one is at some point on Saturday 12th May....

Wee Beefy  

Single Pub Of Contact

Afternoon,

    I'm noticing a bit of a trend to my drinking patterns lately. Not just obvious markers such as "to excess" and "recklessly" but more subtle patterns are emerging. I seem to be finding myself wanting to stay put once I get to a good pub.

This isn't exactly a groundbreaking outlook of course, but one of the things that has happened as a result of this blog is that I sometimes visit quite a few pubs in one "session" so that I have stuff to report. It's not like the blog owns me - because I enjoy tasting different beers, and soaking up different atmospheres in venues. And also, the walking between pubs probably does me good.

However over the last week the concept of a session, in its traditional sense of staying in one pub, has become more prominent. Staying put is the new crawl. I think it may catch on, much like other recent inventions, such as the wheel....

If you want to try out my new hobby,  you will need the following:
A : a good pub
B : a few good beers to choose from
C : some money
D : plenty of time

Last night I followed the above recipe with some success, as below...

I was heading to the Closed Shop and was meeting Wee Keefy for a few drinks. I knew he was only coming out for a couple, after which he'd likely be off home so I planned to wander down to the Uni Arms or the Bath afterwards. There was an exemplary range of beer on again at the Shop, and it was really busy when I arrived at about half 7. I got a grammatically accurate pork pie and a pint of the excellent Dancing Duck Dark Drake and awaited the arrival of the brother of mine.

The Dark Drake was on excellent form so when he arrived, and, as everyone does, went to the upper part of the bar to look at the beers on the top two pumps instead of reading the sign, I recommended it to him, and got another pint for myself. In the end he had a half of Robinsons Unicorn and half a Drake. We were soon ensconced with good beers surrounded by people enjoying good beers. This is a heady and largely irresistible cocktail.

I had half of the Welbeck Dark Horse next (two dark beers out of 6 - spoilt!) and half a blue Bee Tangled Up IPA, as did WK, and we continued chatting. At some point Father O-matic arrived with Pete Green from the world of writing. It transpired he was having some sort of birthday so once WK had sloped off home like a good lad I joined the party and spent a very agreeable few hours talking beer and pubs and, erm, other things. I also accidentally had numerous pints of Tangled Up IPA. I think this made me sleepy.

Alas the throng departed around 23.00 and I had to find the cash for another half to last me until I had to leave for the night bus. I'd been sat in the Closed Shop for about 4 hours and enjoyed every minute of it. And to be honest, once I was in, I never gave the idea of moving on a second thought.

A similar thing happened on Friday, although for reasons of mastication I did venture on from pub number one in the end. I'd headed for Shakespeares after work with Mr Howard from the world of music, and we sat in the beer garden, in defiance of common sense,  enjoying the echoes of sunlight that were imprinted on the scene from earlier. We were both on pints of the rather smashing Raw Mount Adam, a zingily hoppy, fruity, pale beer cramming in loads of flavour at 3.6%.

We were soon joined by Steve who went for old reliable Deception  whilst I had another Raw. As our conversation turned to that Woman the atmosphere became more charged and passionate and it was only right that my next pint was of Steel City Brewing Metal Fatigue, with just the right amount of bitterness to represent the feelings of the brewers toward the subject figure, and just enough hops to make its drinking  enjoyable and valedictory at the same time. A very good beer.

More Raw followed but alas Dave and Stave were off to get smashed on Buckfast and play gin rummy (have I remembered this right?!) so I stopped for a last one before heading on to eat. That last beer was a pint of the strong Arbor and Bristol beer factory English IPA, a surprisingly soupy but not unenjoyable concoction that may have been brewed with British hops.

My final and thus non session stop off was in the Bath Hotel, where I had one of their legendary hot roast pork sarnies, a half of Raw Pacific Gem and a pint of the Bristol Beer Factory Bitter Californian. There's been plenty of Brizzle stuff up in Sheffield lately and quite frankly that can only be a good thing.

So it seems that I have used the above recipe to end up in two cracking pubs drinking great  beer. Although, having left to go to the Bath, I think I've not completely nailed this new hobby. Here's to my getting plenty more practice at staying in pubs for a long time.....


Wee Beefy

Amber worship.

Hello again,

     Friday was a good Good Friday.

Socialising, drinking, not being at work, trying a new beer, all things that brighten one's outlook. One hing struck me though, awaking this morning to the resonating clink of bottles in blue bins and having seen the usual crowds heading into town, it seems the socialising element of the long weekend features as heavily as it does over Christmas. Mainly the alcohol related socialising.

Personally I think this is a good thing, what with pubs struggling at the moment, but the fact that the "good" element of Good Friday is unlikely to reflect the practice of having the day off and going out to drink lots of beer, suggests the church is missing a trick. After all, there's nowt as thirst inducing as an hour or two of salvation seeking. So I'm told...

Growing up in Crookes the Princess Royal and St Timothy's church just up the road seemed, to an outsider at least, inexorably linked, being the default post service destination of much of the congregation. Further afield, the village of Dale Abbey had a single building supporting both such vital institutions, with the pub on one side joined to or more likely kept separate from the church, by a locked door, and I'm sure that across the country almost every village church had or still has a pub next door or across the road. Ale and church are not, therefore, so odd a couple.

This revelation, no pun intended, thus nicely fits in with my 172 part series "convoluted justifications for going out drinking", keeping which in mind I'd like to dedicate the below described outing to the practice of pilgrimage, and the search for reward through knowledge. Jesus wept, so to speak.....

My first stop on this beer theophany was the Closed Shop. Inside it appeared that nobody had caught on to the fact that the pub was open, whilst they weren't at work. Mr N H Rodgers from the world of studies was at the bar, and Mr Stephens was behind it, dispensing ales and stories as always, so this was a good start, although initially my heart sank when I spotted no dark beer. Luckily I discovered that Brass Castle Bad Kitty was coming on. I immediately revised my expected time of arrival at the next place of worship.

Bad Kitty vanilla porter is a very fine beer indeed. I first tried Brass Castle brewery beers at Magna 2012 and considered both to be some of the best beers there, so I was excited to be trying a sip. Although, I had substantially more than a sip.

Being a fan of quiet pubs this lightly populated scene suited me just fine, and but for a spot of photography, to record the interior as is before the refurbishment, it was just supping and talking, exactly how a pub visit ought to be. Obviously, spoilsports like Mr Stephens and business partner Chris would no doubt have preferred if the equilibrium of our drinking had been interrupted by "more customers" but for an hour at least it was mainly ours.

Alas eventually other people finished home for the day and came out, and after 3 and a half pints of Brass Castle I tried to pretend I wasn't going over the road to that pub, the whatever it is.

In the Hallamshire House where I didn't go, I sat in the snug with a lovely and much needed roaring fire, to sup a pint of Jaipur and a half of Juvenia. That Thornbridge beer has something of a reputation for being costly is true, but the extra pennies did at least help me reach the £5.00 minimum card limit and thus avoid another hunt for a cash machine. And, like the night before, the Juvenia was on very good form, as was the Jaipur.

As you may know my next stop was an unplanned one, at the Hadfield, after which I headed into town to DAda for its "First pour" amazing new beer launch. Disappointingly, Coalition was just another pale beer brewed with a well respected brewery across the sea, this time Terrapin Beer Co, (probably, we all remember what happened the last time I only glanced at a collaborative brewery name...) and served on Keykeg. Had it been the stupendous Old Ale of the same name, brewed with Dark Star, I'd have bought a couple of pints. Although that would have cost considerably more, so its swings and roundabouts.

I did have another pint in here as well but unfortunately I have left DAda since then, the very act of doing which has emptied my head of all memories, so we'll just have to assume it was a tasty guest beer, which they usually are in DAda.

And so endeth my search for salvation, but definitely not redemption. Eight times over.

Wee Beefy

How to recover from a beer festival

Hello,

  it's not particularly scientific but the answer to the above is - go to another one! And then return to the first, but more on that later.

On Friday The Hop in Sheffield hosted it's Sheffield Showcase beer festival, with an extra bar jimmied into the small offshoot to the right of the entrance. I was looking forward to meeting Fluffy in the Bath Hotel first, and we were going to spend a few hours trying the beers but Fluffy, alas, was indisposed. So I went alone, on the assumption I'd bump into someone from the world of drinking along the way.

I started by having a pint in a nearby hostelry - erm, the Closed Shop, at Commonside. It wasn't overly tortuous getting there for once, and I arrived to find a good range of ales, and plenty of customers. I had a pint of Brampton Mild, and it was excellent. A really complex rich dark beer at 4.5%, and selling for £2.90 a pint. In fact, it was so damned nice that I "had" to have two more pints, although I was tempted by the Dukeries Gold on the other end of the bar.

It was a visit that heralded new information as well - it turns out that multi-instrumentalist Beck was in fact the founder of the brewery that make inoffensive fizzy drinks like Vier. This fact, which is made up, stemmed from a conversation about apostrophes - why aren't there any on pump clips? A case in point was J W Lees Bitter. Surely Lees'? Robinson's? Thwaite's?

I don't know why this doesn't apply, or whether indeed its needed (the only explanation I could come up with was "its different for beers", but I had nothing to back that up). None of this would have arisen as a subject if The Closed Shop hadn't elected to sell a product with an amusing superfluous apostrophe, thus "Kevin's Pie's hand made in Sheffield". As far as I can tell, that slogan informs the consumer that the hand that belongs to Kevin's pie is made in Sheffield. Am over it now though, obviously....

Anyway, off to the Hop next and it was rammed as always. I quickly spotted Mr and Mrs Greg Robbery and sat down with them supping a very quaffable pint of the 4.2% Bramling, a collaboration between The Hop and Tapped Brewing Company. Although delicious, it soon became clear that some of the other specials and collaborations were somewhat lacking.

I had a pint of Oatmeal Stout from On The edge, which was surprisingly heavy on the vanilla, which perhaps let down an other wise excellent beer. The Blue Bee and The Hop collaboration Ideal Mash was pleasant enough, but to my surprise, the Steel City Corrosion of Conformity was grim - although I suppose a pale beer with rum and raisins in has a lot of work to do to be enjoyable.

I got my final pint as the Robbery's were leaving, an excellent Dark Hart from Harthill Village Brewery, who seem to have hit the ground running. Alas this coincided with the band starting playing, and sat on he fringe of the infuriatingly large crowd of punters stood at the bar, I suddenly remembered why I can't get on with the Hop. Not least, because Dark Hart was misspelled Dark Heart. Disgraceful!

I finished the night in the Bath Hotel, where I was pleased to spot the rare visitor Steff, and even more pleased, having first had a pint of the Espresso Stout from Dark Star, to spot the Thornbridge Halcyon. On cask. Oh. My. God. Even better than I remembered it on cask, having more body to it than on Keykeg, and served drinkably cool rather than cold, it was an absolutely amazing beer.

I drained my glass whilst catching up with Sparklepete, who is that much easier to spot now I know what he looks like. However, I only spotted him because I thought I recognised someone from Shakespeares sat near the door - and having rather drunkenly established he wasn't who I thought he should be, I discovered he was sat with Pete. Recognised by proxy, as the young man commented.

So, a mixed bag regarding the Hop festival really. Ironically, I'd heard someone in the pub earlier in the week suggesting that rather than go to a beer festival, even one in a pub, I should just go to some great pubs. I did. And as it panned out, they were better.

Cheers!

Wee Beefy

Reopened Closed Shop brings period of closure to a close

Yep.

Petty much. Just that. The central tenet of my statement is already clear, but there are subtleties to reveal, and details to unmask.

The Closed Shop used to be quite good. It stood opposite venerable establishment the Hallamshire House, run for approximately 125 years by Les, with its unfailingly traditional, down to earth "pubinness", atmosphere, charm and interesting internal features made it a worthy competitor for the custom of locals. The Closed Shop was a Tetley House with a different cientele, it seemed.

Whilst I always used to feel like I was welcome in the Hallamshire, the Closed Shop may as well have been called the Closed world.

I ventured in the 'shop whilst Les was still at the helm of the Hallamshire and was annoyed by grumpy arsed service from behind the bar. An admirable choice of beers was available, possibly better than the Hallamshire, including a fantastic pale ale from the Darley Brewery. But the arsey mein host stuck in my craw, and the next time I visited a few years later the pub was standing at the top of a slippery slope. With an admirable and valiant lass behind the bar trying to run a pub single handedly with two week old Taylors, insufficient stock, and training. Then it closed.

Am not sure when; it was certainly closed at the end of January and possibly at New Year. Now its got a new lease of life.

Mr Stevens, from the Death Star Canteen sketch (also the Rutland, for lovers of facts) has taken it on. I won't venture to say bought because they seem to still have the "hilarious" idiosyncrasies of pub vampires Punch's lease to deal with. But hey, its trading again. So much easier to visit.

It reopened 17.00 yesterday 20th February, and had a decent if by Rutland standards tame line up of beers. To be fair to Andy, and his co-conspirator who may be called Chris, its really not fair to compare the two. The Rutland is a freehouse. The Closed Shop is not. Its likely that he has simply bought or signed up to run the premises and buy the stock from Punch. Tribute to which is that they only have one guest pump of choice at the mo.

Beer range was Tetley Dark Mild, Castle Rock Pale Ale, Kelham Easy Rider, Leeds Pale, Adnams Broadside, Black Sheep and guest ale Acorn Old Moor Porter. The Tetley was surprisingly ace, and , since I hadn't managed to find it in Leeds (although, is that surprising now?) was a welcome return tasting for me. £2.40 a pint and the ideal starter or session beer. I had two so that's virtually a session. And, for added irony, a Leeds Pale. I went to 2 of their breweries pubs and had none of the beer in Leeds....

Decor wise it seems little changed. A man repaired the Jukebox, Paultous used his teenage powers of optimistic youth to blow a light bulb, people played Pool, Brewer Rich and the Author K E Page drank beer, and me, Wee Keefy and Jambon sat in a bay window which may as well have been open - it was chuffin perishing...

Still, its going to be closed again in 8  weeks to receive a proper refurbishment and a kitchen, after which there will be 4 guest ale pumps. Assumedly Punch insist you have to spend thousands of pounds of your own money to secure more freedom of ale choice.....

It will be interesting, say 3 months down the line, to see how this development affects the Hallamshire House. The man of Ash keeps a fine pint but it aint arf expensive in the Thornbridge Boozer. They aren't going to start serving food, so it seems inevitable there will be an effect. Mr Ash had a quite optimistic outlook, and not without a modicum of merit. If Commonside (extending to the Blake, which it doesn't, but in terms of real ale pubs may as well) has potentially 4 pubs with a maximum 21 real ales on, that can only be good for the local beer scene. I think he may be right - now there's even more reason to travel to the area.

Finally, talking of which, after half an excellent Leeds Pale, I headed over the road to the Hallamshire and to my unbridled delight discovered Thornbridge Imperial Oatmeal Stout on draught - on cask. Oh. My. God. I told Wee Keefy and Jambon at once.

Despite the price (eek! Can't even bear to admit to it...) I had 2 halves of the monstrously easy to drink mega stout. Probably the best cask of the year bar none, but also the most night shortening. Luckily my former colleague Ian from the ARBS was in to direct me to a much needed chippy, before I popped down to the University Arms for  half of Titanic Mild (very nice) and finally two halves of Saltaire, Pacific Red (or similar!) and South Island Pale, and a chat with a guy called Bleddyn, who was a man of science, and a thoroughly decent chap.

I wish the Closed Shop all the very best and look forward to many nights sat in there, preferably once double glazed, supping decently priced ale, and, without promising, possibly using it as the starting point of a brilliant new Commonside Crawl.

Cheers!

Wee Beefy