December 2024. Sheffield.
A Friday night in Sheffield between Christmas and New Year with two of the great tickers. Duncan was the first man to complete the GBG, Dr John from Edinburgh a ferocious groundhopper in his late 70s.
We left the Grapes as “Like A Rolling Stone” came on, were thwarted by an unexpected closure of Perch, but struck gold (as so often) in the Old Shoe.
Dr John, an Imperial Stout afficionado, was alarmed I’d picked up the round for the expensive imports; I assured him I’d let him buy a half in the Sam Smiths pub later.
Note Pubmeister only having a taster. A pint’s a taster, Duncan !
We’d missed one tram from Cathedral out to Attercliffe, the next one was 8 minutes, exactly the time needed to walk the 20 metres to the Church House.
Sheffield’s rock pub, and as good an indicator as any of the city’s pubby strength in depth with a rich Plum Porter. The only pub on this crawl that Stafford Paul would warm to.
But we wanted to go to Mars,
though an inability to press the “Request stop” button on the tram had us scrambling a bit an hour before kick-off, and Dr John decided to prioritise getting a programme over a sour in an Attercliffe industrial estate.
Now, I’ve not really warmed to St Mars thus far, table service and some carbonation issues counting against it, but it’s part of the city’s brewing heritage,
felt quite cosy at night,
and with a bit of top company from Duncan and some better choices it clicked tonight.
Being a northerner, Duncan was impressed with the head on the beers,
a mix of Koelschips and Abbe Triples and Old Ales.
That thumb means a 4 on Untappd.
Suddenly it’s 20 minutes from kick-off and we’re 25 minutes away, just the sort of challenge a ticker relishes.
retiredmartin 
“The only pub on this crawl that Stafford Paul would warm to”.
I should make a note of that.
.
“Being a northerner, Duncan was impressed with the head on the beers”.
I never thought northerners needed hats on heads !
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I vowed not to take that hat off after we’d beaten Rangers on Boxing Day. Now taken it off after losing to Dundee. And I didn’t only have a taster in Old Shoe- my lawyers will be in touch.
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Is it a coincidence that GBG completists only came along once Donnington pubs virtually stopped getting in?
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Donnington is taboo on this site Scott. You might get yourself banned.
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Isn’t getting banned from Donnington pubs a primary aim of most on here?
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Some enjoy getting banned from Wetherspoons, Scott.
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But aren’t they all carpet spotters?
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Scott,
Over 53 years of using pubs and I’ve NEVER been banned from one.
Maybe that’s something for 2025.
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Just remind the regulars in a Yorkshire pub that chips were invented by the French, and all that could change in a flash…
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And that Yorkshire puddings aren’t proper puddings
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Like most things the French claim to have invented, chips come from Belgium.
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Still might not save you in Yorkshire, Andy.
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