The Banner Cross, Sheffield

Official site of The Banner Cross - www.thebannercross.co.uk

Official site of The Banner Cross - www.thebannercross.co.uk

Facebook page of The Banner Cross - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of The Banner Cross - www.facebook.com

I understand there's been a change of management here since my last review, and certainly there's been a refurbishment, both outside and in. Nothing much else seems to have changed. there's still a double entrance, with Lounge to the left and Tap Room to the right, though the two rooms are connected by a further area of seating (at high tables) around the back of the smallish, square bar counter, which has two sets of four hand pumps, one for each room. I was in the Tap Room, where Abbeydale Moonshine and Deception, Tetleys Bitter and Bradfield Farmers Blonde were available, but an additional pump clip alongside informed me that Acorn Barnsley Bitter was also on, round the other side. So I went for that. Sadly this wasn't as good as the Timothy Taylor Boltmaker I'd just had in the Cherry Tree, but not through any fault of cellarmanship. There are numerous TV screens showing Sky Sports News, and I know from others who have been recently that there is still a big screen in the back garden for popular games, such as the recently resumed Sheffield derby.

Quite a nice looking pub, with a bit of Brewer's Tudor about it, and the old Tetleys signage still in place. Beers available at the time of our visit were all middle-of-the-road nationally available brands. Or at least, Yorkshirely available): Sharps Doom Bar, Tetleys Bitter, Copper Dragon Golden Pippin, Castle Rock Harvest Pale, Jennings Cumberland Ale and Kelham Island Pale Rider, plus two ciders. Nothing there to make the heart beat faster, and not much to trouble the taste buds either. The lad whose round it turned out to be was shocked at the prices, and queried how much they'd charged for crisps: £1 a bag - and "welcome to the 21st century" was the reply. Perhaps they didn't expect us to come back anyway, so thought they might as well piss us off big style. We sat in the terraced garden at the back, which must get pretty busy when there's football on, as there's a big screen attached to the back wall of the pub. It was very quiet here out of term time, but I get the impression it's one that'd be popular with the local student population. Date of visit: 30th July 2014