The Cavendish, Sheffield

Large Stonegate pub aiming at the student market. A very long frontage over old shop fronts leads into a somewhat gloomy interior, with pool tables at one end and long benches in the middle. Sports TVs are sprinkled around. Black Sheep Bitter and Kelham Island Pale Rider were available on handpump, along with a couple of ciders.

On a mini-tour of some of the less well known real ale pubs in Sheffield we called in here on a whim, having spotted a small bank of three hand pumps. There were two beers, Wells Bombardier and Abbeydale Moonshine, plus a Westons cider. We asked for Bombardier, but the manager, accusing himself of negligence, told us it hadn't been pulled through yet. He could have rescued the situation by pulling it through there and then, but instead we had the Moonshine, another Stones drinkalike. The pub looks very smart after its recent refurbishment, though I'm not sure the idea of having the floor tiled in a totally irregular pattern - no two tiles the same, as far as I could make out - was such a good idea. Always popular with students, it may not have much appeal for those of a more mature age group.