retiredmartin

July 2023. Walkley, Sheffield.

Mrs RM has been hard at work keeping me in the lifestyle to which I have long become accustomed, but joined me for a bottle of thrillingly expensive red wine and moussaka at the Greek Grill House on Barber Road in Commonside.

Must have been a strong bottle of wine, because after collecting a mobile phone left behind in an embarrassing place Mrs RM insisted, nay INSISTED, we call in the Rose House.

This will seem daft now, especially to those of you too young to remember the Pandemic (Google it), but in early 2021 the Rose was the pub I used to walk past with my bag of ASDA shopping and always hiss “Open the pubs !“.

Two years later, I’d never been in, and never felt the urge, either, and not because of a lack of cask. It just looked very plain, and seemed to have gone through several landlords since that glorious (second) re-opening.

But look what REAL people in Walkley think;

Well, Kat is right. Though I’m not sure I’d call anywhere I’ve been so far “elitist”.

Look beyond the quiz nights and karaoke and meat raffle and you’ve got a surprisingly pleasant community pub, and we should treasure those.

Comfortable seating, and new carpets, too. And Bombay mix at the bar.

We know all about complimentary Bombay mix though, don’t we ?

The Landlord enthused about my choice of Stones (“just put a new barrel on !”), and poured the Guinness with love and care.

I suspect those three glasses show 87% of the pub’s trade. The Stones was pleasantly uncarbonated, the Guinness had the iron that Mrs RM needed to justify her pint.

OK, sayings on pub walls are not to the purist’s taste (even if they’re from Tommy Cooper),

but I’d happily watch the Ashes here (if the weather hadn’t ruined it and Mrs RM’s phone wasn’t in the way).

and the soundtrack was a joy. Five Star’s “Rise & Shine” competed with the burbling of a newborn baby, whose dad was summoned to rock him (or her) to sleep.

We then headed to the KLF and Tammy Wynette before ending with Dubliners (“Pub with no cask beer”).

Truly eclectic.