March 2026. Maltby. Rotherham.
To add some colour to the monotony of the Waterbeach to Sheffield run I stopped in Maltby on the way home. It only adds 5 minutes to the trip, but gives you the joys of the A634, Roche Abbey and all,
before posing the Eternal Question “Is there more to Maltby’s than meets the eye ?“.
The Queens Hotel is the undisputed, er, Queen of this old mining town,
a Spoons packed with activity.
But I enter to an empty bar area; where’s the queues and slow service I hear about from the CAMRAs ?
“Dirty Gertie….Thirty !“
“Bingo !” comes the response.
Yes, Spoons bingo. The dining area is packed with gentlefolk, though the caller, as well as the bar and kitchen staff, are all enthusiastic young folk. There’s your hospitality employment for youngsters, right here.
I give the Katsu chicken bowl a miss, drawn in by the “NEW” Sri Lankan dish on Curry Club.
That “No Thanks” is a particular bargain.
My usual isotonic N/A Erdinger,
and a third (ugh) of the JDW beer festival collaboration between some Italian on holiday in Southwold.
It’s lovely (3.5).
And then the curry arrives. Hang on, that’s four (4) poppadoms.
“Yeah, you ordered extra poppadoms“. Shades of OnionRingGate in Burgess Hill.
Reader, I finished the lot, and regretted it immediately.
Fish curry, pilau rice, naan bread, four poppadoms, six dollops of industrial mango chutney, a half litre of German beer, a third of Italian black lager and bingo entertainment, all for under a tenner. How do they do it ?
retiredmartin 