April 2025. Sheffield.
We’ve actually been spending a bit of time at home in Sheffield of late; grief, I even mowed the lawn last month. It’s been worth my while to power up the Naim SBLs and play a bit of music on Tidal, and Mrs RM has turned on the slow cooker.
Of course, living in Sheffield comes with significant health risks, and I’m not just talking about the strain on Mrs RM’s knees walking up Whitehouse Lane from the tram stop.
Three (3) deserved GBG entries within 5 minutes up the slopes, a beer shop that ought to be in the Guide, and all those treasures down the hill in Kelham. Not good for a healthy lifestyle.
“Fancy a pint ?“
Mrs RM is out the door in 60 seconds, like Angelina Jolie in that 2000 film, and inspired by the bird on the street art,
we head to The Raven.
Palm Lane is short and steep, but manages to squeeze in the garage for Cuneo’s ice cream vans,
and the former Palm Tree’s large garden.
I don’t now why I haven’t warmed to the Raven more. A mixed local crowd, from tradesmen to toddlers,
their local Wisewood cask priced about £4, and one of Sheffield’s top crafty keg ranges.
“They’ve got Everything is Legal in a Dressing Gown” I excitedly tell Mrs RM.
“Is it strong ?” she asks. Sort of.
Over two pints she confirms my view on the Raven. It does everything right on paper,
but somehow isn’t a place to linger.
Perhaps it’s the colour scheme, the music (1990s indie) played just too quiet, the antlers, the lack of tat…it just lacks that “lived-in” feel you get round the corner. Perhaps it works best on summer weekend in the garden with the pizza oven on.
But then again; quality IPA from Sureshot, sour from Pastore, and malty bitter from Wisewood. Surely it’s all about the beer, no* ?
*No
retiredmartin 
Some pubs/bars just don’t work for you but work for others. It can be impossible to say why.
de Garre in Bruges, for example, the beer is great, the place looks amazing, full of people having a great time, and yet… It didn’t work for me.
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And I sense why, though I loved the atmosphere. Did you go alone or as part of a group, Andy ?
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It was just me and Karen.
We particularly loved both Brugse Beertje and especially L’Estaminet.
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A bit surprised you didn’t enjoy it more then, seems a bar for couples rather than solo drinkers.
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I’m unsure about the heading, Martin.
It seems to invite the question “What, even Jimmy Savile?”
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My wife’s best friend lives in Walkley and the Raven is her local, so we have been many times. I like the Loxley beers, but get what you mean about the atmosphere.
Robin
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It’s a fantastic beer pub, Robin, just not my favourite in the area.
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“but somehow isn’t a place to linger” – the pictures maybe suggest “sterile” which is how I’ve heard two similarly refurbished pubs, in Keighley and Stafford, described.
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Isn’t that part of the Grand Scheme though, Paul?
All trace, of anything that makes people feel like they belong anywhere must be eradicated?
Make them understand, that they’ve no stake in anything? And that will teach them to know their place?
Sure feels like it to me plenty of the time.
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I think so Etu, even worse that 1984 and you must remember how bad the ‘eighties were.
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Yes, Paul it’s why I dislike so much of the pop music from back then, perhaps.
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I must take you there one day to see for yourself, Paul. It’s odd, I actually have lingered there for an hour, even as I think “still not lived-in”.
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Yes, I’m probably due a return to Sheffield amongst other places.
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We’ll get the bunting out, Paul. Hopefully the Sheffield Hatter will have seen his “beloved” (ugh) Luton Town survive on the final day of the season and be able to join us at Alder.
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