Sheaf View

The pub as a whole is absolutely beautiful. With the best lagers I have tasted. Staff are friendly. Customers are eccentric. Just a bunch of dog walkers by day and old locals by night. Beer garden is presentable. Nice for a quite moment.

After spending a wonderful evening in one of my favourite ale establishments in Sheffield with group of friends, it was that time all drinkers and landlords fear - supping up time.

We are a group of professionals, not rowdy or loud, who had maybe not arrived at the bottom of our glasses before the staff needed to leave. One of the Sheaf team proceeded to walk around our group and tap us vigorously on the heads saying "you, and you, and you now". I do object to being poked on the head by a stranger.

Needless to say I will return again but will be wearing a hard hat. Watch out for a poking in the Sheaf if you overstep the drinking up rules!

A shame this once lovely pub has been blighted by rising prices and the encroaching idiots that spoil a good night out. The ever present stench of weed smoking in the beer garden ruins the lighter and warmer evenings for those of us who don't partake. Then again at least the rowdy football fans have gone now.

Inside, the toilets are amongst the worst in the city, the stench is quite appalling. The staff are pretty good and cope well with the crowds that gather but be careful where you sit or you could be in a regular's seat and suffer the baleful dagger stares all night. Pretty grim for a weekend in the sun.

After a recent change of bar management and certain members of staff this now is the premier real ale house in the WHOLE of Sheffield not just the south. But shhhhhh... it's a secret, alright?

I squashed in at about 5PM on Christmas Eve to find good ale & good company - what more could you want? Pity the family were busy decorating!

It certainly is one of Sheffield's hidden gems - perhaps the fact that it is hidden away is the main reason it never gets top billing?

Excellent and informative staff, mushroom heaters in the outside drinking area, huge range of top beers and continental lagers at more than reasonable prices and an eclectic crowd of well seasoned drinkers makes this the beer appreciator's Mecca.

The selection of local and continental brews is amazing. A good non-smoking room. BEWARE - don't stay too long, you wont find the door out.

Members of the Sheffield & District branch of the Campaign for Real Ale have voted for the Sheaf View at Heeley as the winner of the May Pub of the Month award. These awards highlight pubs in the area that serve good beer in a comfortable and friendly atmosphere. The presentation will take place in the pub on the evening of Tuesday 9th May, from 8pm.

About the Sheaf View: The Sheaf View at the London Road end of Gleadless Road was a small 19th Century corner pub, closed by John Smiths in the seventies. Re-opened after refurbishment as a free house a few years later, it was bought by Marstons in about 1985, who ran it with varying degrees of success until it closed again in 1997.

After three years of increasing dereliction, James Birkett, then owner of the New Barrack Tavern, saw an opportunity for bringing a wider range of real ale to the Heeley area. After extensive refurbishment lasting 6-7 months, the Sheaf View opened on 24 May 2000. The bar displays an impressive array of 8 handpumps, serving Kelham Island Easy Rider, Tom Woods Shepherd's Delight, and Wentworth WPA, together with five ever-changing guest beers, always including a mild, porter or stout. The Sheaf also stocks up to 10 draught continental beers, including Budweiser Budvar and their newly introduced Dark Lager (Czech Republic), Früli Belgian White, Leffe Blonde and St Louis Kriek (Belgium), and Erdinger Weissbrau (Germany) as well as a good selection of bottled continental ales. There is also a pump for a regularly changing traditional cider.

The pub is entered from the corner and then by negotiating a narrow walkway with seating on either side, before reaching the spacious main L-shaped bar area. This can also be directly accessed from the rear door from the car park. A recent extension behind the bar provides the current no smoking room. Flooring and furnishings are predominately wood, and the walls are decorated with brewery bric a brac.

Outside there is an extensive beer garden, and the pub also has full disabled facilities. There are no fruit machines, television or jukebox, and the hum of conversation usually drowns out the quiet background music.

Wednesday nights there is a popular quiz. The Sheaf is open all day from 12 noon.

Choice, reasonable prices and friendly, helpful staff have made the pub consistently popular since opening and it has quickly become the flagship real ale pub in the south of the city.

Congratulations to James and his team of enthusiastic staff headed by Andy, Nicky and Dom, on gaining the Pub of the Month award for May 2006. Join us for the presentation on Tuesday 9th May More information: Dave Williams, Sheffield branch chairman : chairman@sheffieldcamra.co.uk or 07851998745