Monday night crackers

Good afternoon all,

              firstly I should confirm that this post title is not an admittance of some dreadful dreary dietary masterplan - indeed, since the subject has arisen, I can happily admit to not being in possession of any crackers at all.....instead this is merely details of three different venues visited on Monday night either side of a trip out towards Hillsborough to buy scran, as I understand people do......  

Meeting Tash on High Street we decided to nip quickly into Cavells, formerly the Blue Ball, if memory serves, for a quick drink and a catch up before heading to the supermarket. They sell a couple of real ales, and on my last visit this included a 5.7% Sheffield Brewed IPA which I had two pints of. Tonight, most likely as Monday is not a busy night, there was just Ossett Yorkshire Gold, so I had a pint and a half of this, whilst Tash had a large Sauvignon Blanc. Alas they close quite early on Monday so we only had time for that whilst listening to some interesting choices of Eighties pop - possibly chosen to remind thirsty customers like me and Tash that they would be locking up in twenty minutes. The Ossett was well kept and tasted fine, and am certain Tash enjoyed her wine.

Soon we were on the tram and got off at Primrose View before heading down the side of the Double H. Shopping took about half an hour and as always at Aldi it didn't cost us much to walk out with four large bags of essentials. As we have done the last four times, we nipped in the Hillsborough Hotel for a few, with more Sauvignon Blanc for Tash and I had two pints of Helmsley Brewing bitter Pale possibly called Howardian Gold which was very nice, along with a dark ale from Abbeydale which was also well kept, tasty and well priced. Although, it may well have also been their excellent Heathen on glorious keg - the same description still applies. Before leaving we got chatting to Tom for a while and found out quite a lot about their role in the community at this time of year and the food they offer. I think its fair to point out that they won't be opening on Mondays in the new year because not only is January a very quiet month but also the pub is too far from other similar types of boozer to attract sufficient trade to be open 7 days a week.

Some of you may know that I used to work at the Hillsborough Hotel when Del first had it back in the nineties. I used to love going in it then and despite one or two previous declines I have to point out that it has improved and continued in that same manner over the years since Tom took over it's running. With the improvement of the Gardeners and the continued excellence of the Blake, its a shame that more folk don't walk past and into the three on weeknights and weekends more often. I wouldn't want to see the temporary loss of any of those venues in the months ahead.    

After finishing and nipping back onto the Tram we got off at the Cathedral and walked round to the Museum for a last one. As I may have mentioned before they now sell Red Willow Wreckless pale ale on a regular basis which has improved their beer range considerably. Although we were close to last orders we still had time for a large drink each and a chat before I went out at 11.20 to catch the bus home.

I think what this shows is that despite its sometimes rubbishness many of Sheffield's pubs continue to try and strive on Mondays and all offer a selection of well kept pints to wash the palate out. If you are a drinker in our fine sunny city, or even if you live nearby or far away, I would recommend popping out on a Monday to breathe a bit of life back into Sheffield boozers and to help maintain Sheffield#s excellent range of ales at all times thereafter.

Cheers!

Wee Beefy