The Punch Bowl, Crookes, Sheffield

Now in the same ownership as the Rutland Arms, the Closed Shop and the Three Tuns, the Punchbowl has had an extensive refurbishment and now specialises in pizza. This is not to say that you can't get a beer here - in fact the previous incarnation as a Friday night lager palace just seems like a bad dream, as there are eight hand pumps now lining the bar. The new owners, Reet Ale Pubs, have also bought local Blue Bee Brewery, and three of their beers were available at the time of our visit: Lustin for Stout, Reet Pale and Golden Equinox. In addition there were Greene King London Glory, Brains SA, Sharps Doom Bar and two others whose names I am unable to decipher from my contemporaneous notes (hic). A slight criticism would be how bland and similar the beers I tasted were to each other - maybe the selection will change over time. The apparent bare brick wall in the corner turned out to be trompe l'oeil wallpaper, but elsewhere there were mostly plain walls with subdued grey paint. It certainly seemed an improvement from my recollection of a previous visit under the former owners, when this was a fairly rowdy sports bar. Now there are no TVs showing sport at all, and children are welcome. The pizzas gained the approval of my Italian partner and apart from the occasional intrusion of loud music, this was a pleasant pub visit for us. In truth, we have not been back since, mostly because I was not particularly impressed by any of the beers on offer. Perhaps we'll try again soon. Date of visit: 3rd March 2016