retiredmartin

July 2023. Loxley, Sheffield.

Having established that the Robin Hood (RIP) in Little Matlock was, indeed, the furthest point of my 2007 mega Sheffield crawl, I reckoned I ought to find a new pub to write about to justify splitting the trip into two posts.

I guess the market for pictures on flowers (I think that’s what this is, will ask Dad),

is limited, so I’m going to hope that you’re interested in a chain dining pub only serving Doom Bar.

Because that’s what greets you after a 20 minute clamber down to the River Loxley and up past the vast cemetery to the Admiral Rodney.

(Almost) excitingly, this is one of the Mitchell & Butlers Vintage pubs, which 25 years ago in London Colney’s Fox meant a huge “Collection Plate” of deep fried delights. And Bass.

Absolutely no chance of Bass, but a smart pub you’d mistake for an Ember Inn,

perhaps with a nod to Brunning & Price in the Gents.

I’ve yet to find a BAD pub in Sheffield, or one where I wasn’t made welcome, and the Rodney wins by having a landlady not assuming I’m eating and seeming pleased to serve a pint from their extensive cask range, even getting the bloke to pour it as if it’s a sacred act.

Regular readers will know how genuine my enthusiasm for finding Doom Bar at the end of a near 2 hour walk.

Overwhelmed with joy, I add a “Salt & Pepper Squid” starter to the order, and pick the most scenic seat.

I had the choice of seating to be honest, the only other custom being a trio of groups of gentlefolk (all female) who’d clearly all been exploring the delights of the graveyard (it’s a cracker).

I’m sure they appreciated the contemporary soundtrack as much as you will;

and probably thought “Not a patch on Yazoo” just as you are now.

The Doom Bar has a disappointing head but a dryness lacking in most Spoons where it often has a cloying sweetness (NBSS 3+). NS+PSSS 3.5 for the squid.

As a chain pub goes, it’s a cracker. Two minutes walk down the road you reach an excellent homebrew GBG pub. But the Wisewood doesn’t do Doom. Just saying.