A nice bit of Ruskin for you to finish off my South Yorkshire ticks, hopefully well ahead of BRAPA.
Walkley is one of those suburbs in west Sheffield where the students rent after being pampered in residences in their first year. So it was that I visited the Walkley Beer Co on the day we picked James up from his first term away (he hasn’t turned into a lefty beer hippy yet, you’ll be disappointed to learn).
Walkley is a little bit Hillsbrough, a little bit Crookes, so you get authentic cobbled streets and view to the hills;
but also shops selling macaroons, and café selling gourmet pies.
It’s a decent combination, and there’s some gritty* locals besides the new Guide entry.
One pub was advertising this exciting live act, which may or may not be the erstwhile member of local legends Heaven 17.
I also found an exciting new micro pub, discernible from the tiny opening hours,
But it turns out this is a record shop selling Dylan LPs.
Probably sells craft beer as well.
The Walkley Beer Co is very crafty, the backboard taps and communal tables prove it.
Part bottle shop, part micro, it’s not really my sort of pub, but the welcome was as cheery as I’d had all month. Once I’d been through the embarrassment of asking if I could take a photo without her in it, the young lady was happy to talk about the advantages of Walkley over Crookes in the sort of detail I enjoy.
The Quantum State from Hull’s exemplary Atom was cool and tasty, a rare NBSS 4 in one of these micro places.
A winner.
I thought Mrs RM would enjoy a can of strong beer (and she did); I’m sure someone will find something to complain about with the design though;
Back at home, while Mrs RM sank her 6.5% IPA in about 7 minutes, I feasted on the “mystery” scotch egg from Wakefield.
*“Gritty” in west Sheffield means holds karaoke evenings and locals say “Flip me”.
retiredmartin 
“Hllls”
“I” spy a small mistake there. 🙂
“But it turns out this is a record shop selling Dylan LPs.”
The curse of the curtailed craft hours is spreading! (alarmed face)
“Taps”
I count 8 taps but only 7 labels above them. (confused face)
“Table”
Set! (sorry, that’s Pavlovian conditioning from reading bedtime stories to my lads when they were little)
“Probably sexist Simcoe IPA can”
I agree. Her left leg looks like it could do with a shave. (LOL)
Cheers!
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Oh good spot, Russ.
By the way, I really struggled with a title for this post. Any alternative suggestions ?
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Um…
“Walkies! in Walkley”
(yeah, needs work) 😉
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Walkley more bar tat.
Particularly as your American readers wouldn’t have a Scooby Doo.
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Genius. I think they would get it, Prof. For Americans, they’re not particularly dim.
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I thought myself a full-fledged Heaven 17 fan, but I had to Google to fully understand that joke– I doff my cap to you, Martin!
I don’t care if you’re selling beer, vinyl, or stolen goods, if you’re only going to be open for 1 and 1/2 hours for the whole day, why not just stay home and do something else? The sign might as well read, “I thought I liked selling records, but it turns out I kind of hate it.” 😉
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Love that last line of yours, may steal it !
Yes, particularly hard when it’s something worthwhile like a record shop which flaunts its wares in the window but hardly ever opens to sell them.
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One of his best songs is on that album: “Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)”.
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I so knew that.
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You pulling my leg:)
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I so am.
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You don’t say how much the scotch egg was. It’s got to be a fiver to count as craft.
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Oh dear, not craft. £1.50 would have been craft back in 1987.
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That’s just a coconut macaroon enlarged.
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Creative photography.
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It’s not said, but I think you allude to it; their is a similarity with the vinyl shop and micros and other possibly niche genres involving discerning young professionals who are cash rich but time poor. There is clearly a demand or these places would not exist. Yet, the demand is temporal and dependant on an individuals free time. But, the allure of the product is such that it attracts people in numbers, and they are happy to structure their attention around short openings in order to satiate themselves. Or, the product is so good that they accept the enforced restricted availability.
Compare this with the dull (there are good ones obviously) traditional pub that is open all day, yet has few customers outside of recognised busy periods. Who has got it right and who is getting it wrong?
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Well put. Interestingly, there’s a specialist vinyl shop in the interesting part of Cambridge (there is one) that has a cafe at the front which means it keeps open all day, and a few small gigs at night.
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