NON-ALCOHOLIC SHEFFIELD. ALMOST.

February 2024.

Pub tickers really are the nicest bunch, always positive even after the Bard of Prescot is found unexpectedly shut a third time, always offering to drive you to remote pubs in grim southern towns like Maidenhead.

They’re on the road so much it’s hard not to bump into them, as I did Ian AKA Alfie, an imminent GBG completist in Sheffield for the Sea Power gig at the Leadmill.

Ian, the Ronnie O’Sullivan of ticking to my Bill Werbeniuck, had already finished off the county when I met for a quick half in the Rutland, where the beer list is NOT what you want to see when you’re on a recovery day.

So I asked for a non-alcoholic option, and got offered a Brulo out of the fridge.

The darker low- and no- options seem better than the pale ones, but I couldn’t but hope that Ian would succumb to the Pastore 11% Imperial Stout from Waterbeach (wherever that is) and let me have a sip of his.

But he didn’t. Boo.

The Rutland was, as usual, heaving, the chip butties flying out,

the jukebox getting its banned list spot on as usual.

But I needed a stroll before the gig, and found myself in the keg emporium that is the Industry Tap,

again packed with Sea Power fans, and this time did succumb to a taste of home,

but a half of Pastore’s Limone sour at 2.5% was just about ok.

And then to the Leadmill,

where the NA Guinness is almost as good as the normal one.

Which isn’t saying much.

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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.

21 thoughts on “NON-ALCOHOLIC SHEFFIELD. ALMOST.”

  1. Thatā€™s quite a lengthy banned-list, but surprised that it features a couple of Sheffield bands.

    The Nelson in Tonbridge, has one of those electronic beer menus, linked in to Untappd. Itā€™s good for all those tickers who want to see their name up in lights.

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    2. Paul,
      About 52 years ago bands banned by the BBC were often heard on pub juke boxes and I particularly remember Judge Dread in Cannock’s Unicorn, a long gone Ansells pub.

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  2. According to Wikipedia Paul, there are currently 67 songs banned by the BBC. Some, like Je t’aime… moi non plus, by Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg, reached the coveted Number One spot, which was embarrassing for the Beeb when it came to Top of the Pops!

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    1. Paul,
      I see that the list includes “Rum and Coca-Cola” by The Andrews Sisters in 1945, ten years before our time.
      There’s also at least a dozen from Judge Dread which means the BBC has banned more of his songs than those of any other recording artist, and being the first white recording artist to have a reggae hit in Jamaica is another claim to fame. Yet other Kentish musicians are far better known nowadays – The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Kate Bush, etc. etc.

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      2. Probably not, but his mother was born in Kent, he moved to Bromley in 1955 and was married in Bromley which I always thought was Kent but I’m no expert on county boundaries.

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      3. You should enter those pub quizzes that seem to dominate suburban pubs on Tuesday and Thursday nights, Paul, you know your stuff.

        Bromley is definitely Kent as far as most people are concerned, folk from Tunbridge Wells used to drive there to shop on Saturdays (says Mrs RM).

        I genuinely can’t work out where Brixton would sit though.

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      4. I did have a pub quiz team, the Lounge Lizards, in the 1980s and we were quite successful but my brain’s not good enough for that sort of thing now.

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      7. Oh and, “Bromley is definitely Kent” is of course what’s been argued on Discourse since Kent’s membership has decreased by several hundred and London’s has increased by several hundred with St Albans redrawing the boundary around Bromley.

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      8. Why waste time promoting the greatness of pubs when you can agree sponsorship with a company that will send you cans of keg beer, and spend your time redrawing boundaries ?

        NB Only joking, I reckon CAMRA does a fantastic job promoting pubs, the GBG and What Pub alone make it worthwhile.

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      9. “Smart Casual Only”, as was on both front and back doors of one of our pubs last week, is about how I dress – a suit only for weddings, no denim and removing hi-viz on entering a pub before my wages were replaced by another pension.

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      10. Sponsorship with a company that will send you cans of keg beer is bad enough but it’s referring to them as “friends” that really narked me. I might give up on Discourse as it’s doing my mental health no good.
        Early this century I spent quite a while, on behalf of my branch, discussing redrawing boundaries with the several neighbouring branches and it was all sorted out perfectly amicably over a few months. It’s changes imposed from above that seem to cause the problem.

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