retiredmartin

December 2024. Sheffield.

Mrs RM had kindly stayed with mum for a couple of days while I drove the boys home and got depressed at the Etihad.

There’s one sure-fire way to cheer Retired Martin up, and it comes in two cardboard containers from Sang Lung in Hillsborough.

And the 15 minutes it takes Sang Lung to knock out that Crispy Beef and Singapore Rice (NCTSS 4.5) is exactly the time needed to nip across the road and back for a pint in the S6 Beer House.

The Beer House didn’t join its sister pub on Ecclesall Road in the GBG in September, either because it’s too new or because of the extent of the competition.

But it’s Example 1 of Sheffield’s strength in depth outside the GBG, and responsible for the best NBSS scores on my massive spreadsheet this last year.

Big Trip, Two by Two, Track, Yonder, Kernel…a substantial modern beer line-up served up cool, crisp and chewy.

That Big Trip Sticky Stout is silk in a glass, NBSS 4+.

The pub itself is a bit shop conversion plain, but tonight it’s packed with couples and groups of lads, mostly on Guinness, Madri and wine and no-one cares it lacks the heritage of the Blake or the Blind Monkey.

There’s a downstairs pool room that seems a bit of a wasted space, but I’ll never complain about pubs with pool tables.

CAMRA was invented to help folk enjoy quality beer, before it got waylaid by an obsession with “choice”, independence and pub heritage. Come to S6 if you want to taste how good cask can be.

I might even let you eat your crispy beef in my front room afterwards.