Pub 159, Day 58 – The Clubhouse

By Rob

Andy and I have many things in common, such as our fondness for drinking a pint in every single pub in Sheffield. On other things we are less aligned. For instance, Andy is a big football fan and long-time supporter of Sheffield United, whereas my enthusiasm for the Beautiful Game extends no further than watching the occasional World Cup match. Yet on this day, we were both heading down to Bramall Lane to watch United play against a team that I've since forgotten.

A few of my friends from uni wanted to ‘experience’ a local football match and, due to an acute fear of missing out, I bought myself a ticket (Andy, of course, was already going). Before meeting them, we spotted another golden opportunity for some Pubquesting and set about searching for a place near the ground that we hadn’t yet visited. We were struggling to find somewhere that fit the bill, until we saw The Clubhouse appear on our maps.

In the time since we’d started Pubquest (2012), this place had undergone a few changes. From The Scholar to The Hermitage (which we’d visited) and now The Clubhouse, it changed names more often than I changed my crusty underclothes.

It looked no different on the outside or in, save for the name, to when we’d first visited. This time, however, the clientele and atmosphere were different, as the pub was packed with United fans getting their fill of Carling and sausage sarnies. We partook in the latter, but substituted the former for a pint of Dronny Bottom Beer. From Drone Valley Brewery, it proved to be a creamy bitter packed with flavour.

We both rather liked The Clubhouse, as we had The Hermitage, and no doubt would enjoy whatever it next decided to call itself. We realised, once more, that our decision to revisit places that changed their name had opened the door to endless Pubquest. But as we’d also noted before, that was no bad thing.

Pub: The Clubhouse (13 London Road, S2 4LA)

Rating: 8.5/10

Pint: Dronny Bottom Bitter

Brewery: Drone Valley Brewery (Unstone, Derbyshire)

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