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Chat about:
Beer of the Week (w/e 27th April 2025) with Thuck Phat
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
The Brown Bear, Sheffield
Sheffield
S1 2JE
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Real Ale Ray left this review about The Brown Bear
There were quite a few people in here on our Thursday afternoon visit just after 12 noon. This small pub was very neat and comfortable with a bar side and a lounge side to choose from. The bar side had a flagstone floor, with the lounge side having some wallpapered walls along with burgundy painted walls near the front. Staff were welcoming and prices were still excellent.
On 21st May 2024
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3645 recommendations about 3645 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Brainy Pool left this review about The Brown Bear
well-run Sam Smiths museum in a quaint street in the middle of town. Some music was coming in from outside but otherwise you could hear a pin drop, customers were mainly just single older men reading the paper. OBB in acceptable form but not top notch, a bloke came in and immediately proclaimed the stout to be the best beer in Yorkshire. I quite like it but I think he’s getting carried away. Good friendly pub, and probably best enjoyed when the conversation is flowing.
On 13th May 2022
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1174 recommendations about 1136 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Brown Bear
If you like unreformed two-bar Sam Smith's pubs, this one's for you. Half full with old blokes (by which I mean older than me), setting the world to rights in a very traditional way. OBB thankfully available in cask form (£3.00), but I constantly worry about Humph bursting in to confiscate my 'phone / notebook. When I'm feeling grumpy, I quite like zero-frills pubs like this, but I usually wake up and remember which century we're in...
On 13th March 2022
- rating: 6
[User has posted 8679 recommendations about 8678 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Will Larter left this review about The Brown Bear
One of the first pubs I went in after moving to Sheffield in December 1997; it wasn't a Sam Smiths pub then - I can remember drinking Ruddles County all night that Christmas Eve. It's not been a regular haunt over the years, but I don't mind popping in if someone suggests it. When a friend did just that last weekend, I thought I'd check whether a review was needed. When I saw that ROB Camra had paid 67p for a half of Light Mild in 2013 I thought I'd have to go for the same, just to see how much it had gone up in the last six years. I paid a whopping £1.34 - but that's because I asked for a pint: it's exactly the same price as it was all those years ago!
It was pretty busy in here on a Saturday afternoon, but I found the noise level tolerable (which is more than I could say when we moved on to the Head of Steam next door). This is a pretty decent pub for the city centre, smaller than most in the same ownership I would guess, and with nothing noteworthy in its appearance either inside or out, just a good solid pub.
On 23rd December 2019
- rating: 6
[User has posted 4273 recommendations about 3935 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
ROB Camra left this review about The Brown Bear
Small, two roomed Sam Smiths pub close to City Hall. Both rooms are nicely decorated and are very similar. Pictures of old Sheffield adorn the walls. 2 handpumps on the bar both badged with OBB of course. This is one of my least favourite beers, but they had the rare Light Mild on, so I had a half of that. It was an astonishing 67p for the half. It's a nice, neat little pub, but the lack of a decent beer will put me off visiting regularly.
On 20th September 2013
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3286 recommendations about 3196 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Barry Marshall left this review about The Brown Bear
great unchanged pub..no music..no television..so you can hear yourself thinkand have a good chin wag....must be my age..friendly staff...also CHEAP BEER..ok not to eveyones liking..SAM SMITHS..good pint tho..
On 10th November 2010
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1 recommendations about 1 pubs]