Reetaleless

Hello,

     I was going to write this last post of March 2017 about two real ale pub crawls, a beer fest, incompetent fuckwitted staff at Wetherspoons putting their fingers in drinks, but now am going to address in some way, the demise of Reet ale pubs.

I say that, but in fact I know nothing about their demise.

There will be accusations, allegations and no doubt, recriminations, but I don't know what has happened. So instead I will try and provide an assessment of the three pubs affected before Reet Ale took over.

I should say first of all that there are some persons suggesting that declaring bankruptcy on the 30th or 31st of March is a beneficial way of doing so as it escapes or avoids some taxes or fines. Am not sure this is true, but if it is then so be it. This post serves ostensibly to celebrate.

The Closed Shop was a shambles prior to being taken over by Reet Ale pubs. The Hallamshire regularly supplied staff to lock up whilst the incumbent at the time was pissed, drugged asleep or all three upstairs. His tenure was rightly cut short, not long after I went in to find one real ale on, a nineteen year old manager who had started that day and no prospects of improvement.

The Punch Bowl was popular on Crookes but not necessarily with beer drinkers. Cask ale was limited to one or two and was poor in terms of choice. There wasn't any chance of an in house cooked pizza, and though it improved slowly the beer range after Andy took it over was far better than before.

The Three Tuns struggled for many years.  It usually had a few real ales but seemed to exist entirely for HSBC staff and local solicitors and so was a less often visited venue. There were numerous changes of owner with various similar outcomes of ale, food and design but to be fair, bar a rare visit at Christmas, I rarely went in.

As you may know, in recent years the Three Tuns, especially, has been one of my favourite pubs.

This makes the announcement today or yesterday that it (and am led to believe the other pubs) will be closed indefinitely hard to take. And that doesn't even start to address the issues and concerns of current staff at all 3 venues which must number fifteen or twenty. I just hope however that all involved can find alternative employment, and in some cases accommodation, elsewhere in Sheffield ASAP.

In short its a sad, sad day for Sheffield. However, Blue Bee seems safe, and the Rutland is in Chris and Dave's hands. So, in fact, all is not lost. What remains however is tainted.

Thank you Reet Ale pubs.

You did well in your role. Until yesterday.

Yours

Wee Beefy