The Fat Cat, Kelham Island, Sheffield

Very close to the Kelham Island Tavern and my favourite of the two, the home of the Kelham Island Brewery, best known for its Pale Rider champion beer. As you enter the pub ignore the double doors in front and take the door to the right, this leads into the L shaped main bar with the counter which squeezes in 12 handpumps and a few very discreetly placed keg taps. Obviously Kelham Island is well represented here with some good small brewery beers on the remaining pumps. Probably no need to mention all beers are kept to the highest quality. The double doors at the front lead into a drinking lobby with a serving hatch, access to toilets and garden, and a door into a small lounge. There is an air of a typical industrial area victorian pub about the drinking lobby and main bar. The small lounge is again a traditionally furnished room with bench seats, tables and an open fire, there is usually a good mix of quieter, friendly customers in this room.

Not as large or as user friendly as its sister pub in Norwich but the Sheffield version probably has more of its original pub atmosphere and traditional layout. The main bar is to the right of the mosaic floor lobby and the first thing that strikes you is the size of the bar itself. In a space little more than the size of a couple of phone boxes, 12 hand pumps are cramped together with a further rank of pumps at the back. The selection and quality of the beers is well documented and I can only endorse previous positive comments and recommend that an entire evening is put aside to explore the various offerings. The carpeted main bar is quite plain with a tiled fireplace upon which a blackboard will steer you through the availability and special offers. Old pictures and brewery mirrors adorn the walls but do not intrude. The ambience is relaxed with no obvious music or TVs to distract conversation. There is a separate lounge bar with an open fire, a further collection of brewery mirrors and upholstered seating. A corridor runs between this and the bar with its own small service area, a history of the pub, a mass of well deserved certificates and the story of Workhouse Mary, the pubs resident ghost. At the rear is a small but pleasant enough beer garden with bench seats and the grim surroundings for the most part hidden behind a high fence. Whilst I personally prefer the Norwich outlet, the Sheffield Fat Cat is a top notch pub worthy of the effort to find in the back streets and with the Kelham Island Tavern 100 yards away, this must be one of the beer hot spots of Britain.

Situated next door to the Kelham Island Brewery this is a traditional corner pub whose beer is consistently excellent. They also serve wonderful home cooked food. A little out of town but well worth the effort to visit.