retiredmartin

February 2025. Sheffield.

You’d be surprised how many times visiting #PubMen message me “Anything new and exciting in Sheff, RM ?“, assuming I spend my life going round pubs or something.

I’d have said things had quietened down a tad in the UK’s top pub town (sit down, Norwich), but there were four (4) new Guide pubs this year, and I can think of at least one bar near me in S6 that’s Pub of the Year material anywhere else.

But Will the Sheffield Hatter is your only man for hot Sheff tips, and has been promoting the Ecclesall Road as THE place for a balanced pub crawl.

I don’t like to embarrass Will, but he has been the epitome of A Good Mate, getting me to join him on trips out after Mum died, somehow knowing what I needed was a day in Gainsborough.

Sharrow Vale Road, from Waitrose to the Botanic Gardens, feels a world away from North Lincs, and there’s nothing like The Lescar in Gainsborough.

The Blackpool posse popped in here on a busy Friday night a couple of years back, but only for a loo stop, so this was my official Lescar pre-emptive tick.

Not quite a bench seating classic, just a comfortable and slightly upmarket dining pub.

Will had just been on CAMRA Discourse saying the Tim Taylor Landlord was immaculate; I hope he didn’t score it a 5 as all 5s are automatically deleted.

Obviously I eschewed the Landlord, tempted by a rare Fierce on cask.

Will was horrified as he compared my pint of murk with his Leeds Pale from a pump with a paper clip,

But it tasted cool and chewy (NBSS 3.5), and while Will spent good drinking time rattling on about hops and flavours I found I’d finished with the Sheffield Hatter barely half-way through.

Time for a (rare) second pint, a Leeds Pale that started less than convincingly,

but cleared bright (whatever) in a minute, like Bass often does.

And, even from a hand pump with a paper clip, it was immaculate (NBSS 4+).