retiredmartin

October 2023. Sheffield.

A third successive day of meeting pub royalty as “Citra” Mick and “Big” Steve took the slow train up from Hampshire.

It shouldn’t have been that slow, but the floods, particularly at Grantham meant a 9 hour journey and they didn’t even give Mick and Steve a complimentary can of Madri.

So they were pleased to start their holiday straight off the train at the Tap, where Will and (eventually) Mrs RM and I battled the torrents to join them.

The Squawk (3.5) was superb, though a young couple at the bar wanting tasters of all the beers before deciding on a half had Mrs RM coming to the bar to check if I was still alive.

Pub 2 is the medieval gem in the scruffiest bit of town, between bus station and Post Office.

The Old Queen’s Head doesn’t feature on many beery tours, despite a fair GBG occupancy.

It’s a hard sell to promote a Thwaites pub in a city full of microbrews (and Sam Smiths), but quality is quality.

Sadly, the pint of Thwaites two of us had was a bit sharp. Mrs RM looked expectantly to see if we could match her confidence in taking the beer back.

Well I hope Steve was taking notes on how to do it, as a polite “sorry, not sure this tastes right” was met with a courteous “you’re right ! Sorry about that. Choose another” from the new landlady.

And the replacement Ossett Blonde was superb, as were the locals, who regaled us with a tale of the resident ghost.

Stuff and nonsense. But a lovely pub.