The Fat Cat, Kelham Island, Sheffield

In a back street close to the River Don and the Kelham Island area of Sheffield is The Fat Cat, a small red brick Victorian era building that can validly be described as Sheffield’s original real ale mecca and an essential calling in point on Sheffield’s Valley of Beer tour. On an outside pub wall, we see two painted horizontal lines showing the height that the flood waters reached in 2007 and 1864 and note that the latter line is at least twice as high off the ground. We also see the hanging pub sign telling us that the pub is “ferociously independent”. As we enter through the front door, we see an old Cannon Ales mosaic just inside the door. The pub has two rooms, either side of a small central corridor. The smaller bar, on the right hand side, has fixed padded seating round the perimeter of the room and red velour covered bar stools. The walls are decorated with a fine collection of brewery mirrors and posters. The kiosk style bar servery is three sides of a rectangle ( the fourth side is the serving hatch to the corridor and the other room ), over which is an impressive old clock. On the other side of the corridor is a larger room, again traditionally furnished and decorated, but more geared towards what appears to be an expanding food trade. A winding staircase at the end of the central corridor leads up to a further dining area, which I don’t recollect being in use on my previous visits. The walls of the central corridor are decorated with an abundance of CAMRA award certificates. There’s also a number of photos showing the pub during the 2007 floods and a framed potted history of the pub since 1981, when an enterprising beer enthusiast acquired the pub from Wiliam Stones. Outside at the back is a surprisingly large patio garden with brick walls decorated with old brewery memorabilia, mainly enamel signs. Of particular note here is an old Fat Cat pub sign, telling us that the pub was once a Marstons pub. There’s also several old Ward’s Brewery lamps. In this yard is the Kelham Island Brewery Visitor Centre, housed in what looks like a former garage. On my recent Sunday lunchtime visit, the pub was filling up steadily with a mixture of diners and drinkers. Despite a certain amount of gentrification nearby, the pub is still in something of a relative backwater, with the consequence being that the customer base appears to consist entirely of local drinkers and other customers “in the know”. This isn’t a pub that you’re likely to stumble across by accident and, pleasingly, the smaller bar on the right, still retains, even now, something of an old fashioned public bar ambience, with a good number of regular patrons on first name terms with the friendly staff being present during my visit. There’s an extensive foreign bottled beer menu, but the emphasis still appears to be on the real ale trade. The pub has always acted as a showcase for the products of The Kelham Island Brewery which is next door to the pub and, on my visit, three of their beers were available ( Kelham Best, Pale Rider and Bete Noire at £ 2.20p, £ 2.60p and £ 3.00p respectively ). The latter, a beer not encountered before, is a moreish dark stout, described as Hirisk Stout and with an ABV of 5.5%. It’s very moreish and worth sampling if you get the opportunity. There were at least 3 other microbrewery beers on offer as well. Sheffield is not exactly short of decent real ale pubs – and the first time visitor might be overwhelmed by the selection available – but this is still an outstanding pub that you should definitely seek out.

Nice traditional local pub, needs a slight lick of paint but its a good real ale house in industrial Sheffield. The bloke behind the bar was a bit dour. Over 10 real ales, but maybe streched a little as the quality wasn't quite on.

Of all the fine pubs in and around the Kelham Island area, the Fat Cat has perhaps the most traditional feel to it, with its compact, two room layout. Built originally as a boarding house for steel workers, it was eventually converted to a pub called the Alma and continued to trade under this name until 1981, when it was relaunched as the home to the Kelham Island Brewery. On entering the pub, you take the door on the right for access to the main bar, which is very compact making it a bit of a squeeze to get served when busy. The room has wooden flooring and banquette seating, with a bit more space to the rear where the room opens out slightly. The windows at the front boast some nice etched glass and have been covered with old GBG stickers and other such endorsements, whilst numerous CAMRA awards cover the walls. The rear of the room has a fireplace and you can spot one of several painted cats that are dotted throughout the pub. The other half of the pub consists of a carpeted lounge with a good deal of banquette and low stool seating and plenty of old pictures on the walls. This side of the pub is served by a hatch to the bar in the adjacent corridor. There are loads more certificates on the walls here as well, this time mostly for the brewery. Following the corridor past the toilets, you reach a spacious rear garden with a covered area and nice water feature. The pub suffered during the floods that hit Sheffield in 2007 and a board outside shows the high water mark from this event and compares it to an even higher flood in 1864. Three Kelham Island beers were available on my visit – Best (£2.00), Pale Rider and Big Black Blue Sound – and these were complimented by a good range of guests in the shape of Thornbridge Pica Pica, Smart Wild Thing, Castle Rock House Sparrow, Taylor Landlord, Gundog Golden Cocker, Five Towns Roo Barb and Dervintio Boars Head Premium Bitter plus two real ciders. I tried the Kelham Island Best and the Roo Barb, which as the name suggests is a rhubarb flavoured beer. Both were in good shape although the Roo Barb wasn’t the most pleasant pint I’ve had. Food is available, with typical pub grub such as pies for £4.50, detailed on a blackboard near the bar. This is an excellent ale house and it is worth bearing in mind that the Sheffield beer scene owes a great deal to the pioneering approach of this pub. A must do for all ale fans and as others have mentioned, it makes for one of the country’s best double headers when visited in conjunction with the nearby Kelham Island Tavern.