The Lounge (Montgomery Hotel), Nether Edge, Sheffield

Montgomery Hotel official site - www.montgomeryhotelsheffield.co.uk

I was pleasantly surprised on my first visit to this outwardly unpromising hotel in the pleasant residential area of Nether Edge. It's an ordinary stone-built house on one of the area's tree-lined roads with nothing much distinguishing it from any other. However, the recent refurbishment of the bar to the left of the main hotel entrance has been done with taste and restraint, though I have my doubts about the fireplace that appears to have been installed in a wall that has no chimney. The bar, which is down a couple of steps, is a proper wooden affair with a brass foot rail and hooks below the elbow rail. There are three hand pumps with local ales from three different breweries when I was here: Sheffield Five Rivers, Welbeck Abbey Dark Horse and Kelham Island Easy Rider. The Five Rivers wasn't ready yet, and I've had all the Easy Rider I ever want to drink, so I had the Dark Horse, which was a complex beer with many levels of flavour, which went down a treat. The furniture is typical lounge bar, with sofas and arm chairs, plus a few dining tables with easy chairs. The atmosphere was pleasant, with a little subdued music playing unobtrusively. On the walls were art works (for sale) with an off-beat feel to them: mostly pictures of Sheffield or Yorkshire scenes. The walls are cream painted with drink or food-related aphorisms dotted about. This is a little off the beaten track but worth seeking out, I would suggest.

Montgomery Hotel official site - www.montgomeryhotelsheffield.co.uk

After visiting the pub at the weekend i noticed what a vast improvement there was after the hotel / bar had been refurbished to a high standard and now offering wifi internet to customers and also selling a range of real ales