CLOSED SHOP OPEN

EVERY PUB IN SHEFFIELD ON FOOT No. 3 – Closed Shop, Commonside

It’s Tuesday, I think, and I really ought to be heading home after 3 pints.

But it never works out like that, does it?

And a minute from the Springvale lies a pub that might have actual beer made by artisans.

It was actually the Closed Shop that swung us towards retirement in the summer, with its cosy interior, classic pub food including squid, and a dozen beers.

The Closed Shop is in luck, its small outdoor area supplemented by an unused car park to provide one of the largest outdoor areas in town.

And I still nabbed the last table at 4pm on a damp Tuesday enlivened by the strains of “Mamma Mia“.

I got told off for not standing outside, for the first but not last time in 2021, but regained brownie points by nodding in the right places as the App ordering rules were unveiled.

I started with something vegan, as it’s Sheffield, and got talking to two Professional Pub Men.

One chap lived in the pub, the other one knew every pub in Sheffield. And it wasn’t Will!

So I stayed for another, a Paisley Porter which I immediately regretted but which was inevitable.

And despite not hearing a word either of what the Pub Men said, resenting the plastic glass, and the bitter cold by 6pm, that 5th pint was just wonderful.

Though perhaps not every day.

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.

21 thoughts on “CLOSED SHOP OPEN”

    2. How many pubs in Sheffield? It depends on how you define a pub and how you define Sheffield. Pubs Galore has 485, but this will include some places that are hotels, restaurants and other borderline pub entities (WhatPub will include clubs). Pubs Galore defines Sheffield as a postal town, and this includes places that are actually in Derbyshire. There are 105 in Sheffield Central. https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/towns/sheffield/south-yorkshire/

      By the way, there is no way that Martin can walk to all 485 of them!

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      3. SH,
        “Pubs Galore defines Sheffield as a postal town” but that can change, for example Edale from “Edale, Sheffield” during the 1980s to “Edale, Hope Valley” nowadays. The Sheffield Postcode Area is of course even more extensive.

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  2. Is plastic glasses a town centre thing, or was this a licensing stipulation of using the car park I wonder. Either way it seems totally unnecessary, yet another reason for casual pub goers to wonder why they bothered returning. Sounds a bit gripey, but all these little niggles add up to a less than great experience, and just so unnecessary for the most part.

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      1. Happy to pay an extra 50p for a grown-up container. I’d go to 75p for a Pewter Tankard and a small bird of prey with a hood.

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  3. Goodness, five pints– you’re encroaching on BRAPA territory now! 😉 But after the pubs being closed for so long, it must be irresistible to try supporting them as much as you can, even in a single day.

    Have you ever heard an explanation of why it’s called The Closed Shop? Certainly among the most unusual pub names I’ve heard, indeed unusual as the name of any business. Perhaps they were seeking to inoculate themselves against going out of business by way of some sort of reverse psychology?

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  4. “But it never works out like that, does it?”

    No worries. You’re on foot.

    “The Closed Shop is in luck”

    Did you have to show your union card? 😉

    “enlivened by the strains of “Mamma Mia“.”

    From the movie or were there some Italians nearby exclaiming about the beer range?

    “but regained brownie points by nodding in the right places as the App ordering rules were unveiled.”

    Most married men are pros at nodding in the right places. 🙂

    “One chap lived in the pub, the other one knew every pub in Sheffield. And it wasn’t Will!”

    (slow golf clap)

    “that 5th pint was just wonderful.”

    Right now every pint probably is.

    “Though perhaps not every day.”

    LOL, indeed!

    Cheers

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  5. On Closed Shops – when I started ‘proper’ employment in 1977 at an insurance company, the Staff Union had negotiated exemption for members from the ‘time and motion’ recording system, so all but the most principled staff joined the Union anyway. As a result, with almost guaranteed membership, the Union was absolutely useless.

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  6. Finally got around to visiting the Closed Shop yesterday. A mixed experience: friendly and welcoming, but the plastic glasses are so squishy it’s a wonder I didn’t spill my first one when I tried to pick it up. Stancill No.7 was a little cloudy – maybe end of barrel; Paisley Porter was fresh though, but a bit too aggressively chocolatey for my taste; Barnsley Bitter was a disaster, tasting and smelling like a tin of home brew malt that has just been opened and not actually gone through the brewing process yet. Yuck!

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      1. Yes, that’s always been the problem at the Closed Shop, though on the whole it’s been better under Stancill than previous owners. (I think the Barnsley Bitter must have been a brewing fault – I’ll have to try it elsewhere in a week or two.)

        I found out yesterday that the Old Grindstone, which Stancill were running under licence from the owners, True North, will not be reopening as a Stancill pub, which is a shame because I’ve never had anything close to a duff pint from them in that one.

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