The Oxbow, Sheffield

This is a micropub in s shop that also has a flat above - it's the sort of smallish neighbourhood shop that was being built in the 60s and 70s. On approaching, it is clear that a temporary tent-like awning has been erected in front - presumably as the lockdown rules were relaxed to allow outdoor drinking last April - this is in two parts, with the first section open to the sky (though perhaps it is coverable when rain is on the way) and the second, abutting the shop front, being enclosed and with various heaters. Once inside the pub, there is a bar counter on the left with just two cask beers on (though there are two or three unused hand pumps) and quite a few keg/craft beers. The cask beers were local Triple Point Gold 4.0% and Macclesfield's RedWillow Feckless 4.1%, a best bitter. Most of the space inside was taken up, so I went and sat at a long bench table amongst the heaters. Another reason for sitting outside was a rather unpleasant smell, which I couldn't quite identify - it may have been drains, or a homeless person, or a dog. The toilets, when I came back to use them, didn't seem to be the source of the smell - there are two WCs, labelled GENTS and LADIES, but not until you've entered and closed the door; anyway, it wasn't me who had lifted the seat in the one intended for females. Some drinkers who were happy to be in the outer part of the tent drifted off while I was there, but a group of six friends replaced them, so the pub seems to be doing good business. Which makes it hard for me to explain why my pint of Feckless was so poor - not sparkling, not clear, tasting a bit muddy but not by any means "off". Was everyone drinking keg beers?

Opens this Friday 17th of January