Sheffield Pub News - September 2008

The Friendship Hotel in Stocksbridge has closed until further notice.

The Walkley Cottage Inn has applied to erect an outside smoking shelter next to its car park. However, the pub has been told that it must install non-slip flooring in order to comply with health and safety regulations before it will be allowed to open the shelter.

We have added a basic listing for the Bowery on Division Street in Sheffield city centre. The Bowery opened on 20th September and was created former Arctic Monkeys bass player Andy Nicholson, DQ's Michael 'Deano' Dean, James O'Hara and backed by Arctics drummer Matt Helders.

Organisers of Sheffield's Steel City Beer Festival have confirmed that their 2008 event will be going ahead at a new venue, Cemetery Park. The festival has in recent years been held in working men's clubs (Darnall Liberal Club last year, St Phillips Social Club before that), however it has been decided that this year the festival is to be given a new lease of life by moving it out into a marquee in... a cemetery!

Cemetery Park is in the Sharrow area of the city, just outside of the city Centre, a five minute walk up from the bright lights of Ecclesall Road, or for those feeling lazy, the numbers 3 and 4 bus stop right outside the park, which is attached to the general cemetery.

The news of the new format to the festival has already generated some excitement and a belief that this year the festival is going to be a bit special, with a lot of CAMRA members offering to work as volunteer staff, and lots of enquiries from groups of drinkers who plan on attending.

Amongst our regular staff, there has been particular excitement from those who consider themselves to have a bit of a goth side to them, the festival being attached to a cemetery. Many of our local breweries will be producing special one off beers for the festival, which will be named along this theme. We cannot reveal the details of these special beers yet, drinkers will just have to come along to the festival and enjoy the surprise. However we can confirm we will feature a couple of beers from Abbeydale Brewery that just have to be there - Black Mass (6.66% ABV) and Last Rites (11% ABV).

We have been able to put the beer festival on in Cemetery Park thanks to the fantastic co-operation of the General Cemetery trust, the ground hire will contribute towards funding the work they do there, and we'll also have charity buckets and run a fundraising pub quiz to add to that.

The beer festival runs from Thursday 2nd to Saturday 4th October, and features a massive range of real ales (around 80), along with traditional cider & perry, continental bottled beers, food and live entertainment. More details can be found at www.sheffieldcamra.co.uk/beerfestival.htm.

The whole event is organised, run and staffed by unpaid volunteers from the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) to promote the real cask conditioned beer and real cider they enjoy so much!

The Frog & Parrot on Division Street in Sheffield city centre has had its application to extend its licence approved by Sheffield City Council's licensing board. The pub can now open at 9AM and serve alcohol from 10AM daily.

Local residents had opposed the application, claiming that they were already plagued by loud music and rowdy drinkers and that the longer hours would make matters worse.

The application was approved after the landlord agreed to adhere to strict conditions set by the licensing board. These include additional noise protection to windows and better communication with residents of nearby flats via the designated premises supervisor.

We have removed City Bar, previously of Cambridge Street in the city centre, as it has closed down. Several building on Cambridge Street, including City Bar, are due to be demolished as part of a £600 million city centre regeneration project.

The landlord of the Blue Bell Inn at Hackenthorpe was assaulted by a robber who escaped with an amount of cash. The robbery took place on Sunday 1st September.

The Cricket Inn gastro-pub at Totley has been included in the Good Food Guide 2009. The pub is run by chef and restaurateur Richard Smith, who also runs Artisan and Catch at Crosspool.

We have added partial details for Bungalows and Bears on Division Street in Sheffield city centre. Bungalows and Bears replaced The Old Fire Station bar, which was known as Bar Coast before that.

Please also see our latest pub news page.

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