June 2026. Sheffield.
I don’t like these days in Sheffield, there’s too much still to see, but with Mrs RM busy curating her blog I need to give her options for local exploration.
It’s a while since we explored the Park Hill flats out the back of the station, as these steps don’t get any less steep as you hit middle age.
Yes, decent views back into town,
but it’s the flats (Sheffield’s version of that Urban Splash place in Ancoats) you come from, probably drawn by the Richard Hawley soundtracked musical from 2023.
Excitingly, they’re bring the Chelsea Flower Show “Garden of the Year” to Sheffield,
and you thought Retired Martin Towers had the best garden. It’ll look good when it’s finished.
While we were in the West End watching “Standing At The Sky’s Edge” a bar was opening at the foot of Park Hill, the Pearl with a particularly “shy” fascia.
Looks like a show house outside, and possibly the large, rambling interior as well.
Cocktails and small dishes dominate, which is my excuse for taking three (3) years to get here.
Prices in pounds sterling, since you ask.
But a fiver for cask Brew York, poured in what looks like a kitchen,
that’s not bad at all, and the Hop Cat Pale is pretty good, full-bodied even. These are pint glasses, honest.
Better, far better, than I expected,
but I can think of at least one “Proper Pub” man who won’t be putting it on his next Sheffield crawl.
retiredmartin 
No Autovacs.
Works for me. I’ll even drink in Tim’s places on that basis.
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“It’ll look good when it’s finished.” My Dad says that about the Colosseum.
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Stonehenge will make a good Brunning & Price when it’s finished.
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I shall be adding it to my list for my next Sheff visit, looks refreshingly quirky and interesting. And at £5 a pint of cask, not too pricey too.
Was it cool and crisp though, not that insipid and warm stuff you can sometimes get these days, like I had at Shadow brewing in Otley yesterday??
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It was sufficiently cool and crisp for a warm June day to surprise me, Rich, without quite being GBG level in Sheffield.
I’d pop in because Park Hill is interesting, the Pearl itself is unusual, and you can’t go to the Tap every time.
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I NEED one of those “insufferably smug running groups” posters. My bit of Shetland (Bressay) hosts the most northerly Parkrun in the UK. People travel from all over the world to do it. And blimey, are they smug or what? Even the local runners are smug because they are better than us by virtue of doing Parkrun. France, on the other hand, has no Parkruns. Vive la France!
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