BUT WHICH SPOONS ?

I don’t know about you, but when I make my daily journey round What Pub looking for closed keg pubs I get bombarded with adverts for Spoons pillows.

“A place of harmony that us English absolutely love“. Yep.

And they open from 9am on the Glorious 12th, giving them a crucial one hour advantage over the Three Horseshoes down the road in Clay Cross.

And, if you stand in the main square at Barker’s Pool, admiring the statue of Mrs RM (and ANO) looking angry at me.

From that vantage point, just opposite John Lewis (shortly to be become a macropub) you can see TWO Spoons 20 seconds apart. This really confused our family reunion plans a few years ago.

My photo hasn’t done it justice, but I’m not sure what justice can be done to the grotesquely-fonted Benjamin Huntsman.

More to the point, where’s the wine garden ?

What Pub says “Upstairs patio“, but it’s the pavement seating that will elevate Sheffield to become the new Seville.

First pint of Doom Bar sunk, at 9:03 I’ll cross the road, carried on a stampede of first day drinkers, to the Sheffield Water Works Company aka Lloyds No.1 aka “the posh Spoons”.

Genuinely, I have no idea where the outdoor seating is here, but after a pint of the house cider “Cock-Eyed Bonobo Banana“.

Or quite why the esteemed Bankers Draft doesn’t get the continental makeover. Too close to the trams, I guess.

Three vital questions remain unanswered;

  1. Will my Spoons vouchers (extended life be accepted) ?
  2. Will the WiFi work outside ?
  3. Have they ordered the extension lead for the coffee machines ?

And remember, “A place of harmony that us English absolutely love”

Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

17 thoughts on “BUT WHICH SPOONS ?”

  1. You can’s beat Spoons for a grand building. Not exactly a pub, nor a restaurant – something different, but quintessentially English. I’m not a big fan, but I applaud any place where OAPs and young people can afford to drink.

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      1. I was in a pub in Broadstairs just before lockdown last year and on the Saturday night it was full of dapper old blokes with their dressed up wifes, as well as young people in track suits playing pools and enjoying a night out. You don’t see that too often these days (it was no Spoons by the way, a traditional largely wet led pub).

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  2. I was in the Huntsman once, about 2220, and the staff cleared all the customers into one area, so that they could put the rest of the pub to bed for the night.

    I wonder if they’d still do that if it were open now?

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    1. I don’t remember ever ‘liking’ the Last Plantagenet (RIP), but as the first Wether-opener in Leicestershire it offered beers rarely seen in town, and often at times of the day other pubs barely touched. So a cavernous novelty, but even then it was convenient stop on the ever-changing route to far better pubs back when there were still numerous regional brewery tied houses in the town centre. I was always happier drinking Banks’s in the Salmon, or Everards in the Globe, than a choice of funny forrin beers in the Wetherspoon.

      As time went on, I grew to positively dislike the place, I hate the way that whilst you could ‘observe’ fellow customers, there seemed little opportunity to ‘engage’ with them, the fundamental of a good pub in my view. Other than the beer it came to have absolutely nothing to interest me, and given the growth of beery pubs everywhere over the last few years, it’s only point of difference was the price, and as a working fella I’m lucky enough that that’s never been an attraction.

      Everyone I know that uses Wetherspoon with any regularity do so for either the beer range, or because for one reason or other they regard them as the only place they can afford to drink regularly. Totally understandable, and I do feel they have an important place on our crumbling high streets, but seems to me there should be a but more ‘depth’ to pub going than that. If it came to a choice of Wetherspoon or nowt, I could honestly see myself finding a new hobby…

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  7. “BUT WHICH SPOONS ?”

    Agreed. The early Spoons with Peter Shepherd or one where he was replaced by Derrick Ross? 😉

    ” I get bombarded with adverts for Spoons pillows.”

    I read that as ‘spooning pillows’ and figured it was something you put between your legs when snuggling. 🙂

    “And they open from 9am on the Glorious 12th,”

    Ah. THAT Spoons.

    “admiring the statue of Mrs RM (and ANO) looking angry at me.”

    Mrs RM is definitely a woman of steel. 🙂

    “you can see TWO Spoons 20 seconds apart.”

    A bit like Tim Horton’s in Canada then. 😉
    (that one’s for Scott) 🙂

    “but I’m not sure what justice can be done to the grotesquely-fonted Benjamin Huntsman.”

    Egad!

    “What Pub says “Upstairs patio“, ”

    According to Streetview there’s something out back, but can’t tell if it’s elevated or not.

    “but it’s the pavement seating that will elevate Sheffield to become the new Seville.”

    A tad ironic. The UK leaves Europe and it’s pub then apply to be more European. 😉
    (also, you HAVE to go to this Spoons… it’s on Cambridge Street!)

    “First pint of Doom Bar sunk, at 9:03”

    Ah. Good man. 🙂

    “Genuinely, I have no idea where the outdoor seating is here,”

    Loads of room on the outside facing City Hall.

    “Have they ordered the extension lead for the coffee machines ?”

    If not, it’s because they’ll be Bluetooth enabled to work via WiFi.

    Cheers

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