retiredmartin

May 2025. Sheffield.

I do try to visit all my local pubs every few months, but it’s a tough life. The Blind Monkey, the Raven, the Blake; 3 GBG pubs in a 5 minute circuit.

You really need a hook to hang a visit on, and for the Blake it’s the spring blossoms at the foot of terrifying Blake Street.

Are they blossoms ? I don’t know. Only both my parents and my sister are florists.

I messaged Will to ask if he’d like to bike up the hill for a half (no more, biking under the influence is frowned upon by CAMRA) but he had some valid excuse.

The Blake seems to have slipped a bit in the league table of Sheffield “must sees”, overtaken by the Rutland, Tap and Old Shoe.

But I can’t see that I’ve had a beer below NBSS 3.5 in, well, ever, so it’s a bit surprising it’s so quiet. This is the pub that sold our move to The North in 2020.

Perhaps Walkley is recovering from a 4 day bank holiday bender. Certainly folk take their days off seriously in Yorkshire.

But despite quality beer under £4, it’s just me and a few smokers outside at 4, and I invite Mrs RM to join me at the pub where she was warned off a 6% pint last year.

Mrs RM was there in 10 minutes,

her Neepsend Pilot No. 1 waiting for her.

The beer was up to scratch (NBSS 3.25), the seating gorgeous, but it was quiet. A pub that doesn’t have music needs the sound of banter.

For a terrifying moment I thought I was going to have to talk to her, but then I realised the Jamaican Rum Cake stout I’d seen folk raving about on Untappd.

Blimey. Even without the artisan stout and poppadom matching, it was heaven.