July 2026. Sheffield.
The only problem with keg beer is that you immediately wish you’d had cask, but I wouldn’t admit that on the cesspit that is CAMRA’s Discourse at the moment.
Anyway, I found I couldn’t walk past the Gardeners Rest without seeing what Tribune newspaper just declared the Best Pub Garden In Sheffield.
I greet the barman with a cheery hello, he does the “alright mate”, we exchange pleasantries,
and a dozen faces turn to stare as I’ve walked in at the climax of the Acoustic Folk Session. I have such intelligent readers, one of them will identify the song (for a change it’s not David Gray).
In disgrace, I take my pint of Chin Chin* to the outside decking overlooking the Don, where two things strike me;
It’s MUCH too hot to be drinking a 5.5% Pale in the burning sun,
and it’s MUCH too hot to be outside in the burning sun, full stop.
*very good, even though if I had one of the Tand’s beer thermometers it might have recalled a 5 degree rise in 10 minutes
retiredmartin 
Hey Martin, I’m surprised you could get through the door with that gammy leg trailing behind you. Mavis has asked me to remind you that you should always put a dead badger on a head wound – if it’s good enough for Jeff Lynne out of ELO then it’s good enough for you!
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A badger ?
Sure it was a ferret.
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Greetings from the Fat Cat! Easily in the top 100. Kelham Island Tavern next🙂
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Sure the Tavern just as good !
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Inner cities are perhaps not the best place for pub gardens. Where was that leafier place, where you posted the pic of the hoorays in their corduroy trousers and blazers, Martin?
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No replies as yet. Surely no one’s doing anything else?
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I’ve been walking the canal and now writing about Rotherham.
That was the Wharf in Welford, Northants, Etu. One of my favourite pubs (and pics).
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