Crosspool pub guide

[jemson]

I dislike and consequently don't drink English beer. Wish there was a bit more emphasis on wines in these kind of reviews.

 

Many real ale places will stock beers from overseas or British beer than is made very much with influence from the states, down under or Europe. What sort of beer DO you like? Fair point though about wine; the selection offered is often below par although some places, like BrewDog do try and get some some interesting wines.

 

Be nice to see True North involved in S10. They don`t do much wrong.

 

Totley and Dore could also do with a good pub imho. OK, you have `gastro pubs` but, those aside, some of the others are poor. The SummerHouse does really well and is nowt special (I hear).

[Bilge]

Tavern: On my last visit the real ale was limited to Greene King IPA. The time before that they only had Black Sheep. As I don't much like either of these (and the pub itself in its current guise) I won't bother visiting for a while. When is that refurb happening?

 

Sportsman: Yes it's a boring suburban pub but it's clean, spacious, well-run and the beer is usually pretty good. It had Oakham Citra in this week alongside the usual Jaipur and Moonshine etc.

 

Plough: Still shut and no further news.

 

Aligaarh unit: Seemingly this is still too expensive for anyone to take on and the lease runs out soon so I would guess it will eventually become flats.

 

Hipster micropub: Nope. The former hardware shop is being refurbed at the moment so who knows what might pop up there - probably a nail bar but I live in hope. The firework pop-up shop would make a nice cafe/bar with outside seating.

[DerbyTup]

Well things have certainly changed a bit since Crosspool used to be a bit of a trapping zone for me as a young lad.

 

The Crosspool Tavern on a thursday night was a good place to go to meet groups of attractive young ladies. It had a nice vibe to the place and attracted a young crowd. I used to enjoy going in there - but now it's just a sad old carvery place with no atmosphere and crap beer.

 

The Sportsman used to be a bit of an older person's pub back then. We'd sometimes call for a drink before or after the Crosspool Tavern but no young man in their right mind would have wanted to stay in the Sportsman instead of being amongst a bevvy of beauties down the road at the Tavern, back then. I've been in about 2 years ago and thought it was typically bland and lacking in atmosphere.

 

The Plough is a pub that wasn't really on my radar back then, although I have been in it a few years ago before it closed.

 

Whenever I walk into a pub and see any of the following beers on the bar:

 

Black Sheep

DoomBar

Deuchars

London Pride

Old Speckled Hen

Taylor's Landlord

 

I know I'm in a pub that is run by some big brewer who, as a token gesture to real ale drinkers, has got a few of these "ubiquitous" real ales on the bar.

 

That's usually enough to make me turn on my heel and get the hell out of the place.

 

I hope the True North folk take over the Plough and serve up some proper real ale, like they do down the Broadfield. If so, I could see myself making the short trip over to Crosspool for a drink - although I suspect my trapping days are over now.

[Grappler]

Tavern: On my last visit the real ale was limited to Greene King IPA. The time before that they only had Black Sheep. As I don't much like either of these (and the pub itself in its current guise) I won't bother visiting for a while. When is that refurb happening?

 

Sportsman: Yes it's a boring suburban pub but it's clean, spacious, well-run and the beer is usually pretty good. It had Oakham Citra in this week alongside the usual Jaipur and Moonshine etc.

 

Plough: Still shut and no further news.

 

Aligaarh unit: Seemingly this is still too expensive for anyone to take on and the lease runs out soon so I would guess it will eventually become flats.

 

Hipster micropub: Nope. The former hardware shop is being refurbed at the moment so who knows what might pop up there - probably a nail bar but I live in hope. The firework pop-up shop would make a nice cafe/bar with outside seating.

 

The Plough - as has been said, the community had backers to buy the building and the community would take a 10 year lease. The community had raised enough money to refurbish the pub, including kitchens, stock it and hire an experienced manager/couple. There were more than enough people interested in managing, very experienced people with a good track history.

 

The community paid for a professional commercial surveyor to go in and survey, then produce a report on the state of the building and what needed to be done. The report also gave guidance on the commercial value of The Plough, as a public house.

 

The local community used that commercial valuation as the basis for their bid, as it would have been poor business practice to go in with a higher offer than what they had been advised the building was worth, as a pub.

 

There was also ongoing interest from one of the local Sheffield brewers, who also had professional advice on the valuation of the building.

 

Enterprise Inns went with an offer from a property developer.

 

Enterprise Inns and it's estate agents (a third party based outside the city), failed to mention in any of it's advertising of the property, that the pub had an Asset of Community Value (ACV) placed upon it, until the year 2020, when it could then be extended for a further five years, meaning it had to stay as a public house until that time.

 

The property developer probably did not know this when he entered into the agreement with Enterprise Inns.

 

When Sainsburys tried to take the pub on and make it a supermarket, it was turned down by Sheffield Planning Department and voted against by Sheffield City Council planning committee. I expect the same to happen again, when the flats and "bistro" are put forward.

[Bilge]

Crosspool Tavern refurb = a few wood panels are now painted grey. Hallelujah! Those wood-coloured panels were a big problem for me (imagine it - old wood panels the colour of wood!). Now it’s completely transformed. £200k well-spent.

 

Beer is just the same crap. Doom Bar or nothing tonight. Black Sheep (jam!) tomorrow. No thanks. Back to the boring old Sportsman for me (or just stay longer in the Itchy Pig!).

 

---------- Post added 17-12-2017 at 22:27 ----------

 

Basically it’s just been ruined a little bit more by Head Office in Suffolk or wherever. Instead of someone thinking about how to improve a historic Sheffield pub we get a ghastly anypub.

 

---------- Post added 17-12-2017 at 22:30 ----------

 

Not much of a refurb. Why bother?

 

---------- Post added 17-12-2017 at 22:55 ----------

 

The nice old door to the gents has been removed. That was my favourite thing before. So it’s a dreadful failure of a refurb.

Edited December 17, 2017 by Bilge

[Route274]

Just to point out that the Tavern is owned by M&B; who also own the Sportsman, so they probably do not care which of their outlets people use - It is all money in their pockets.

[Bilge]

Just to point out that the Tavern is owned by M&B; who also own the Sportsman, so they probably do not care which of their outlets people use - It is all money in their pockets.

 

True, but if it was any good I'd use the Tavern as well. 2 pubs is almost a crawl and they would support each other. Three pubs would be great. But if there's only one usable pub people will go to a different area sometimes just for a change from that local.

[Grappler]

Crosspool Tavern refurb = a few wood panels are now painted grey. Hallelujah! Those wood-coloured panels were a big problem for me (imagine it - old wood panels the colour of wood!). Now it’s completely transformed. £200k well-spent.

 

Beer is just the same crap. Doom Bar or nothing tonight. Black Sheep (jam!) tomorrow. No thanks. Back to the boring old Sportsman for me (or just stay longer in the Itchy Pig!).

 

---------- Post added 17-12-2017 at 22:27 ----------

 

Basically it’s just been ruined a little bit more by Head Office in Suffolk or wherever. Instead of someone thinking about how to improve a historic Sheffield pub we get a ghastly anypub.

 

---------- Post added 17-12-2017 at 22:30 ----------

 

Not much of a refurb. Why bother?

 

---------- Post added 17-12-2017 at 22:55 ----------

 

The nice old door to the gents has been removed. That was my favourite thing before. So it’s a dreadful failure of a refurb.

 

Sensible thinking