Victoria Hotel, Sheffield

A characterful pub in an unusually-shaped building, with, on its walls, prominent pronouncements that it was a Wards house, in the days before that brewery's demise, big enough to read from a quarter of a mile away. All the more surprising, then, to find Stones Bitter on the bar, Stones and Wards having been great rivals in the pub trade in Sheffield. There's no real ale here, more's the pity, just bowdlerised versions of Stones, John Smith's Bitter and Magnet, plus the usual lagers. There's a small room in the curved section of the building to the left of the entrance: its door carries the words Smoke Room, and it has a small hatch connecting it to the bar. The bar itself is centrally placed to the left, with a drinking area around it and two other rooms. Further on to the left is a room with a large TV screen on the end wall, and to the right is a very plain room with white painted walls and bench seating. There's a dart board in here, above the rather handsome fireplace. There was a friendly atmosphere about the place on my late afternoon visit and I wouldn't mind going back. What would encourage me would be the presence of a hand pump or two on the bar, but actually the Stones that I had was not too bad - cold and bland, but at least drinkable.