Mrs RM’s resolve crumbles in The Old Shoe

July 2023. Sheffield.

Mrs RM has a posh watch which “rewards” her, if a beep can be considered a reward, as she hits her 10k/15k/20k step targets.

A walk from the Blind Monkey into central Sheffield is worth 10k, so Mrs RM decided to take back a pair of shoes she’d just bought. NEVER, NEVER ask a woman why she’d bought a pair of shoes if she was going to take them back the next day. I wouldn’t even return a duff pint.

As luck would have it a brand new bar had opened in central Sheff just that week, opposite the Waterstones in Orchard Square, in an old shoe shop, coincidentally.

“I’ll be in the Old Shoe, opposite Waterstones” I said, precise as always.

Orchard Square is an odd little place, like a Disney World version of a UK shopping centre, with a balcony housing bars called “Cheap Dates” and “Terrace Goods” and “Costa”.

There’s one of those international food courts below, and a Greene King place with high tables which was in the GBG a decade or two ago when it was ago when it was a Hogshead. The Museum is one of a handful of central Sheff pubs I haven’t revisited since moving ‘oop north.

But I’ve been in the Old Shoe within a day of its debut,

and while it won’t be getting any visits from Mudg(i)es seeking bench seating,

I reckon it’ll join the Crow, Alder, Blake etc etc on my recommended list of unmissable Sheffield beer bars for those weird folk who like beer.

Obviously, DON’T ask for a taster, a pint’s a taster, even if it’s the Mackenzie Poltergeist Dulce de Leche Imperial Stout.

Two really cheery blokes at the bar. Hey ! I recognise that shirt !

One chap shows me where the cider (moved from the Cider Hole in Krynkl) is going to be “made”.

Who knew making cider was so simple ? I guess they keep the bubble machine round the back.

I had a Pomona, an Azvex,

and when Mrs RM arrived (without shoes) looking confused by my instruction “opposite Waterstones” she ignored the fruit juices and had a pint of the Big Trip (NBSS 3.5+) to save cask.

“That’s that lovely bloke from Walkley Beer Co” she said, and indeed it is, as Old Shoe have stolen the very best experts on cider and wine and craft beer. If not music.

Oh, Brass Construction are fine, but at the bar one chap said “Let’s put on a bit of Bruce“…

Quiet when I arrived, within the hour the Shoe was filling up with young couples and blokes working through the card.

Mrs RM was suddenly attracted to the “orange wine”.

Yep, Croatian Orange Wine on top of Liverpool murk with Bruce Willis as accompaniment.

One of the classiest beer bars I’ve been in, sort of Beermoth meets Pristina student pub.

And when I popped back later that night there must have been three dozen in. Quality always wins out.

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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.

10 thoughts on “Mrs RM’s resolve crumbles in The Old Shoe”

  1. “The Museum is one of a handful of central Sheff pubs I haven’t revisited since moving ‘oop north”.
    But have you ticked Sheffield’s Proper Museums including the National Emergency Services Museum ?
    And do you remember Humphey’s Museum Ale quite a while ago ?

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  2. My SO, as they allegedly say on Mum’s Net, has more shoes than you can shake a stick at, and she isn’t known as Imelda Marcos for nothing. She’s also taken to buying them online, which is even worse, but it does make returns somewhat easier.

    In my, admittedly far more limited experience, you can’t beat trying on footwear in a shoe shop, and when I purchased my rather high-end Meindl hiking boots, I went for the full fitting/foot measurement experience before parting with my hard earned dosh.

    One of my work colleagues still likes to remind me of the time I attended the Dental Show in Cologne, and turned up wearing a brand new pair of smart, black business shoes. By mid-morning, on the first day, I had a very sore Achilles, due to the tightness of the shoe itself, and the lack of “give.”

    Moving swiftly on, those photos of the local “murk” are a good illustration of the points I raised in my previous post. “It’s beer Jim, but not as we know it!”

    I’ve never come across orange wine – Croatian or otherwise. This was despite my parents concocting various types of homemade wine – the stuff the WI euphemistically referred to as “country wines!

    ps. Please let Stafford Paul know that I DO remember Humphrey’s Museum Ale, even though it wasn’t that widely available.

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  3. “I’ve never come across orange wine” except that during the summer of 1974 in Brighton I bought a bottle of Watney’s Biarritz, the former Beverley Brewery in Wakefield having been used for bottling a 50:50 mixture of Watneys Pale Ale and Merrydown orange wine.
    I must admit that’s not the only daft thing I did as a nineteen year old. –

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    1. I drank some 98% Polish vodka in Cambridge after some pre Christmas exams when I was 19 a decade after you, and when I got home my attempt to fall into bed missed by about 10 feet.
      I still remember my Dad shouting “Oi”. Hardly drank at all for the next 8 years.

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