Pub 161, Day 59 – Red Lion

By Ashley

It’s a big moment here at Pubquest HQ, as we introduce you – the beloved reader – to our first international blogger. Brace yourselves for a transatlantic masterpiece, as our American friend Ashley swaps her Bud Light, broncos, and lack of universal healthcare for the Heeley pub scene!

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After months of training me on the ways of British binge drinking, Rob must have thought he had adequately increased my alcohol tolerance so that I would survive one of his and Andy’s famed Pubquest pub crawls. Either that, or he wanted an excuse to get an American girl drunk, to serve as comedic inspiration for his next blog post. No matter his exact motivation, I was curious enough to accept the invitation to join the prestigious ranks of Pubquest guest bloggers.

Pub after pub, some of us foreigners may struggle to drink each beer, but these two practised Brits stay true to their mission and finish their pint, whether or not it tastes like monkey snot. As a guest blogger, I am thankful I was not subject to those same rules. If you value a coherent blog, you'll be thankful too – I was struggling to stay upright by the end of the night, despite not finishing all my pints.

After garnering the history of Pubquest at The Sheaf View, the three of us headed to the Red Lion to experience Heeley’s version of this ubiquitous English pub. Though there weren’t many people in the pub at this time, Rob and Andy managed to run into old friends from school. (And Rob says I know too many people in Sheffield…)

This unexpected encounter showcased the friendly nature of the neighbourhood pub, which was a little shabbier than the surrounding venues, but was pleasant enough. Whatever the decor and beer selection, the snooker table was the highlight for me.

Being raised in the United States, this was my first snooker experience. My slight familiarity with the game of pool did not really come in handy when faced with this extra-large British billiards game. Rob and Andy did a fair job of explaining the game to me, yet I couldn’t compete with their snooker skills, and they both beat me. Nevertheless, I wasn’t quite set on leaving the Red Lion on this note. So, we played another game and I kicked their Sheffield asses. Just kidding! I wish.

Anyway, several games and too many beers later, this American lightweight was all snookered-out, in proper post-Pubquest fashion. Too bad we had another pub yet to go…

Red Lion Snooker Score: Andy 0-1 Rob

Pubquest Snooker Score: Andy 4-6 Rob

Pub: Red Lion (653 London Road, S2 4HT)

Rating: 5.5/10

Pint: Theakston Dark

Brewery: Theakston Brewery (Masham, North Yorkshire)

NEXT UP: Ten out of ten, at The White Lion...

Pub 160, Day 59 – The Sheaf View

By Rob

My American friend, Ashley, had been studying in Sheffield for almost a year and had heard lots about Pubquest. She had not yet, however, been along for the wild ride. Spying an opportunity to outsource another blog, Andy and I arranged to visit some pubs in Heeley with Ashley in tow.

We began at The Sheaf View, an eighteenth-century pub in spitting distance of Heeley City Farm. Having fallen into disuse and disrepair in the 20^th century, it was reopened and rebuilt in 1984 by the Pidgeon family (a human family, not the biological Columbidae family of pigeons and doves). Fortunately, Mr Pidgeon’s relatives included an engineer, architect, and soil expert – and the pub roared back into life (only to then falter once more and open, again, in 2000 as the free house we know today).

I’ve always been a huge fan of The Sheaf View on account of its wonderful old-fashioned look, excellent selection of real ales, and pleasant outdoor seating area. Ashley seemed reasonably impressed – it certainly exuded all the qualities one might expect of the stereotypical British pub. Lovers of standard bar staples, like Carling or Smiths, will be disappointed – there are no such offerings at the View. For people striving to drink a different pint in every Sheffield pub, however, it’s a dream come true.

Andy and I each ordered a pint of Monkey Gone to Heaven. From Totally Brewed, it was a banana and coconut cream ale, which I found to be a rather odd mix. It certainly wasn’t the best beer, but neither of us had tried it before (and given the extensive range of beers on offer, we knew we could always stay for an additional tipple).

The chances of that happening significantly increased once we found a free table on the sunlit decking area outdoors. We polished off the pales and each ordered whatever we fancied – I opted for a sour cherry beer, which was delicious.

Sitting there, in the sun, we remarked on how fantastic the Heeley pub scene is. Despite having waited six years to visit on Pubquest, we’d each been here many times with various people. A collection of good pubs all in easy walking distance, surrounded by shops, restaurants, takeaways, and gin bars – it offered something for everyone.

A highly recommended visit!

Pub: The Sheaf View (25 Gleadless Road, S2 3AA)

Rating: 9.5/10

Pint: Monkey Gone to Heaven

Brewery: Totally Brewed (Nottingham)

NEXT UP: An American learns snooker, at the Red Lion... 

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)

NEXT UP: Banana & coconut cream ale?!? At The Sheaf View...

Pub 158, Day 57 – The Bridge

By Rob

Having finally fed ourselves at the Acorn Inn, we felt ready and raring to conclude our Chapeltown journey at The Bridge.

An oddly shaped pub on the inside, we found ourselves tucked away in a narrow, but cosy, corner. Despite the traditional look and feel of the place, the beer selection was incredibly poor. There wasn’t a single draft or cask we hadn’t already had. Emergency manoeuvres were needed, and so we bought ourselves several bottles of Desperados, ensuring we each imbibed a pint. As I don’t much like tequila, it follows that I don’t much like tequila-flavoured beer, irrespective of whether or not a slice of lime is shoved down the bottleneck.

While the night had been a success, we discovered that unlike our previous visit where we’d walked a nice lap of Chapeltown, this time we’d strayed far from the train station. There was no way of making it back for the last train, so an expensive Uber ride to Sheffield awaited.

However, just when we thought the night was over, a text landed in my inbox. Like the previous year, it was my cousin’s birthday (she tends to have it on the same day annually), and my family had once again found themselves dancing in Bierkeller.

Not wanting to deviate from a successful and established formula, and ever the creatures of habit, we ordered a taxi to West Street.

Pub: The Bridge (Hollow Gate, S35 1TZ)

Rating: 6.5/10

Pint: Desperados

Brewery: Fischer Brewery (Schiltigheim, France) (no longer trading)

NEXT UP: A pre-match pint, at The Clubhouse... 

Pub 157, Day 57 – Acorn Inn

By Rob

We'd been famished since the first pub, and this was pub number five.

Normally, mild disappointment greets the discovery that our next venue is part of a chain. In this instance, though, the sight of ‘Greene King’ was manna from heaven. Like in a cartoon, where an animal sees dancing T-Bone steaks in place of people, we read nothing in the sign but ‘food’.

The pub was a standard Greene King affair. As I’ve said before, there’s not much elaboration needed here. Hot food was served, the surroundings were absolutely and unmistakably OK, hot food was served, the drink selection was decent, hot food was served, and hot food was served.

We immediately secured a table and ordered some food, along with two pints of Nervous Turkey – a Christmas beer from Ossett Brewery. Slightly bitter with spicy notes, it wasn’t my favourite ale of the evening (although they could’ve served warm piss in a dirty jam jar, and I’d have still drank it provided the meal also arrived).

As for the rest – the meal, the pub, the experience – just remember being in any Greene King pub ever, throw in a Christmas tree and some lights, and that was it.

Pub: Acorn Inn (516 Burncross Road, S35 1SL)

Rating: 7/10

Pint: Nervous Turkey

Brewery: Ossett Brewery (Ossett, West Yorkshire)

NEXT UP: Bidding farewell to Chapeltown, at The Bridge...

Pub 156, Day 57 – Wharncliffe Arms

By Rob

On the walk from the Crown & Cushion, we decided to delve into the history of Chapeltown (partly because we’d ran out of things to say to each other, partly to take our minds off the hunger, and partly because we’d need something to pad these blog posts out with).

One interesting snippet that cropped up was the tale of a missing tank, possibly stolen, from the village a few years ago. During the Second World War, Chapeltown had churned out Churchill tanks and, to mark this, one stood on display at the site for decades. According to Yorkshire Life, one morning the locals awoke to find it missing, with one resident allegedly seeing it, that fateful night, "on the back of a low-loader disappearing down the M1."^[1]

It might sound hard to believe, but a quick internet search reveals that, as recently as 2019, two decommissioned tanks were stolen from a transport depot in nearby Dinnington. The man who was due to collect the tanks, Chris, had clearly not heard of the Chapeltown crime, telling the Star “I was stunned and flabbergasted – I could not believe it.”^[2]

Is there a serial tank thief on the loose in South Yorkshire? The Tank Thief of Tankersley, perhaps?

Probably not. But either way, back to the matter at hand.

We arrived at the Wharncliffe Arms and were horrified to discover they did not serve food. There would be yet another pub and, crucially, yet another pint, between us and our dinner.

The pub was rather charming, in that effortless, ‘old-man-pub’, red-upholstery-and-patterned-carpet sort of way. The beer selection was also pretty good, with a few cask ales on. We each ordered a pint of Blizzard, by the local Stancill Brewery. Given our empty stomachs, we were glad of the light, malty beer – nothing too lethal.

We didn’t hang about all that long, as we were now four pints deep and still without a single bite to eat…

Pub: Wharncliffe Arms (365 Burncross Road, S35 1SB)

Rating: 7.5/10

Pint: Blizzard

Brewery: Stancill Brewery (Sheffield)

NEXT UP: Finally finding food, at the Acorn Inn... 

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[1] Bill Hearld, ‘Chapeltown’, Yorkshire Life, (May 2010)  https://www.yorkshirelife.co.uk/out-about/places/chapeltown-a-south-yorkshire-village-with-the-feel-of-a-bustling-town-that-wants-for-nothing-1-1638263

[2] Dan Hayes, ‘Two World War Two tanks ‘stolen’ from South Yorkshire transport depot’, Sheffield Star, (June 2019), https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/crime/two-world-war-two-tanks-stolen-south-yorkshire-transport-depot-70431

Pub 155, Day 57 – Crown & Cushion

By Rob

By the time we’d arrived at the third pub on our Chapeltown sequel, we were really hungry.

Fortunately for us, this one served food. Not only this, but it was immediately apparent that the Crown & Cushion was orientated towards the provision of hot meals – most of the pub was restaurant seating, with no taproom to speak of.

It was also immediately apparent that this pub was really busy. On the plus side, as Andy pointed out, this meant the food was good. On the downside, as I replied, it meant the wait would be long. As it turned out, the wait was much, much too long.

"An hour?!" Andy spluttered at the busy, flustered waiter.

"Yeah I’m afraid so," said the young man.

As he walked away, we stood there by the bar in utter misery. Nevertheless, our primary objective still had to be met. So, like the troopers we are, we ordered two pints (total – not each) of Theakston’s Lightfoot Blonde Ale. A reasonably common beer, it was a surprise to have gotten so far through Pubquest without crossing it off. We were happy to do so, having always enjoyed the refreshing, light, and zesty tones of this ‘continental blonde’.

We drained the lovely beer in reasonably lovely surroundings, but struggled to appreciate the atmosphere amidst the smell of food, as our bodies began to slowly digest themselves.

Pub: Crown & Cushion (1 Chapel Road, S35 1SS)

Rating: 8/10

Pint: Lightfoot

Brewery: Theakston (Masham, North Yorkshire)

NEXT UP: Stolen tanks, at the Wharncliffe Arms...