Pub 111, Day 42 – The Banner Cross

By Rob

Occasionally we all want to like something that we can’t, in fact, like.

Sometimes it’s clear why. For instance, I want to like going to the gym. This is, rather obviously, for all of the practical health benefits that regular gym attendance would bring. And yet I find, and have always found, exercising at the gym to be an unbelievably tedious affair: pounding away on the treadmill, going precisely nowhere, so that I’ll feel marginally less terrible about the lamb bhuna that I plan to order on the way home.

Of course, sometimes it’s less apparent why you want to like something, but still pretty obvious why you don’t. For example, I have always liked the idea of eating seafood, without being able to really articulate why. I have never, however, been confused as to why I don’t like it in practice, which is because it tastes precisely how the sea smells.

And then there are times when you have no idea why you want to like something, and also no clue as to why you can’t. For me, I would say The Banner Cross falls squarely into this category.

I think I wanted to like it because, from the outside, it looked like it was a good pub. Or perhaps I wanted to like it because of its location in trendy, well-to-do S11. Or maybe the reason I wanted to like it was that it’d recently undergone a big refurbishment and I’m the sort of bloke who hates to see hard work wasted.

Whatever the reason, I did want to like it.

I think I was unable to like it because, from the inside, it looked like it wasn’t a good pub. Now, I’m not sure why it didn’t appeal: there were craft beers on offer, the venue would host live music, and it placed great emphasis on showing sports. It was clean, devoid of drunken lunatics, and the odour in the toilets didn’t melt my contact lenses.

And yet, something about the stripped-back wooden decor, the uncomfortable wooden chairs, and the collection of stools dotted about the place held me back. Maybe it just seemed too much like a chain pub, or maybe it was the mismatch between the lovely Tudor exterior and bland interior (like The Howard). Or maybe, by pub 111, I was finally sick of the whole thing and wanted to put as much distance between me, Andy, and Sheffield’s pub scene as possible.

Pondering this question, we ordered a pint of Iron & Steel bitter, from Chantry Brewery. A not very bitter bitter, this bitter was better than the bitterer bitters which litter the bitter scene. A nice, quaffable pint.

Andy was somewhat less disappointed with the pub than I was, being less fixated on the aesthetic and more impressed, I should think, by the multiple sports on show. As such, his generous nature has saved the pub from receiving a dismal score.

Which is just as well, because I still don’t know why I disliked it so much.

Pub: Banner Cross (971 Ecclesall Rd, S11 8TN)

Rating: 6/10

Pint: Iron & Steel

Brewery: Chantry Brewery (Rotherham)

 

NEXT UP: Sitting in darkness, at the Earl Marshall...