The sun has finally decided to shine on the righteous again, and caught up with me in Sheffield yesterday, after a rainy Sunday.
Suddenly, with blue skies, steep hills, and pubs potentially open before Christmas 2021 I feel my Northern retirement decision vindicated.
While Mrs RM stripped wallpaper and installed white goods, I took a walk into Philadelphia, 10 minutes from home but a world away from our “vegan leftie enclave” (Mrs RM’s words).
This gritty strip of Northern Sheffield, once home to the famed Kelvin flats, is now best known as the square mile of the city with the least top ale pubs (though I’ve yet to explore Crystal Peaks).
At Upperthorpe Road you approach student central, home to 19 year old drawn by the ghost signs and Yemeni takeaways.
The two pubs either side of the Philadelphia Church offer keg relief for the intrepid traveller tired of DIPAs and marshmallow sours.
Hopefully Sheffield will be in Tier 1 tomorrow so I can survey The Office and The Philadelphia for local CAMRA.
And then I reached the Ponderosa, one of the great stretches of greenery that define the city.
James spent Year 2 at Uni in the flats a few minutes walk from here, and disappointingly could tell me nothing about the park, or the pubs, or Wendy’s fish bar.
I blame the parents.
I’ve been to Crystal Peaks – you’ve not missed much. I’ve also been to those two pubs. Again, you’ve not missed… The Office used to be owned by Abbeydale Brewery back in the day (and was called something else). I remember going there for a beer festival. Went in last year with my mate Richard (who lives in Sheffield) on our annual grot crawl and didn’t make the connection at first. Was horrified when I twigged. The Philadelphia wasn’t that bad actually – the balcony is/was quite an attractive feature
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Thanks for info, John. A rather speculative venture by Abbeydale I guess but then many of Sheffield’s top pubs are in what were unlikely locations.
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Just looked up the Abbeydale pub (Moon, now Office).
Blimey. Lasted less than a year. No wonder Abbeydale retrenched from pub ownership bar the Rising Sun.
Loads of folk on Sheffield Forum raving about the 10 hand pumps then within a few months complaining about poorly kept beer. Mmmm.
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“The Office used to be owned by Abbeydale Brewery back in the day (and was called something else).”
I think it was The Moon – a fairly short-lived existence, as I recall.
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Yes, the Moon. I think I visited twice when it was in that incarnation.
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The Ponderosa got its name from the TV series Bonanza.
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I was wondering that, but really couldn’t believe it possible. Wow.
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As I understand it, after the previous terraces were demolished, kids used to play on the cleared site before coming in for their tea. Their mothers would ask where they’d been, and of course they’d been playing at cowboys on the Ponderosa.
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I didn’t realize that show had an English audience. Funny to imagine children playing cowboys in the center of Sheffield.
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Google “Milky Bar kid”
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“The Milkybars are on me!” LOL
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Ponderosa…the Spanish for “powerful”, “majestic”, “impressive” and having the English cognate “ponderous”… a ponderomotive force is a nonlinear force, that a charged particle experiences in an inhomogeneous oscillating electromagnetic field, you will be pleased to hear.
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I AM pleased to hear that, Reg.
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The big question is, of course, whether you are to become “vegan lefties” or begin The Resistance. Has Mrs. RM informed you which it is yet?
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Depends which day of the week it is.
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Are there many vegan takeaways in the vicinity?
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Are chips vegan ?
(actually there’s Street Art Sushi close by which will do the trick).
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I think that Manchester could have been improved by clearing some buildings for more open spaces, like.
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Unfortunately in Manc that would have involved knocking down multiple great old bars owned by proper breweries. Although that bit happened anyway.
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Yes, I appreciate the dilemmas
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* they managed it in Cleckheaton, I’ll have you know.
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Etu,
Yes, clearing the Arndale Centre, not such a bad idea I thought !
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“The sun has finally decided to shine on the righteous again”
That photo above is how me and my better half met! Symbolically of course.
“10 minutes from home but a world away from our “vegan leftie enclave” (Mrs RM’s words).”
I think almost anywhere is a world away from a ‘vegan leftie enclave’. 🙂
“once home to the famed Kelvin flats,”
Which, from the sign in the photo above, were built in the 1960’s and demolished in the 1990’s; presumably to make for Celsius to enter into everyday use? 😉
“and Yemeni takeaways.”
For a second there I thought you were talking about kidnappings.
“The two pubs either side of the Philadelphia Church”
In the photo above, I’m guessing that’s where emojis and whatnot started for smart phones?
“Hopefully Sheffield will be in Tier 1 tomorrow so I can survey The Office and The Philadelphia for local CAMRA.”
Fingers crossed.
“and disappointingly could tell me nothing about the park”
Ah, a ‘theme’ park. Now I get it. 🙂
“I blame the parents.”
Um… (decides to not point out the obvious).
Cheers!
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Excellent humorous material there, Russ; I shall log it it under “Funnies” and use it in 2022.
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“I shall log it it under “Funnies” and use it in 2022.”
Because… nothing will be funny in 2021? 😉
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Nothing to do with Sheffield this, but it is to do with Ponderosa. There used to be an estate pub in Linwood near Paisley when I worked on a building site near there as a skinny 18-year-old. To say it was a rough as arseholes would be bigging it up.
I was threatened with disfigurement there once, but since I was in the company of some of our steel fixers – the hardest of the hard – that didn’t come to pass. I might write a blog about it.
You can see for yourself here. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=Ponderosa+pub+linwood+scotland
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If there’s one thing our mutual readerships like, it’s blogs on flat roof estate pubs ! Go for it Tand.
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Preferably when visited by BRAPA on pint 7 of the day.
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