The Fat Cat, Kelham Island, Sheffield

Official site of The Fat Cat - www.thefatcat.co.uk

Official site of The Fat Cat - www.thefatcat.co.uk

ps. TT Landlord wasn't on Mon, but I think was listed at £1.89, to give you an idea of prices... 4 February 2009 I've been to FatCats in Ipswich & Colchester but this, allegedly, is the original & not part of the group owning the others (clearly held to be plagiarists in these parts). The beers on offer on Mon were predominantly dark & strong following a weekend winter ale festival, on handpump; Saltaire Winter Ale, Dunham Massey Winter Warmer, Kelham Island Pale Rider & Best Bitter, Derby Brewery Dark Princess, Spire Draymans Delight, Ascot Winter Reserve, Brew Dog Rip Tide (8%), Wensleydale Hardraw Force, Darkstar Victorian Ruby Mild. Nice traditional little bar, welcoming real fire, banquette seating, small tables & stools, serving hatch opposite to corridor, other side of which is a slightly larger, similarly furnished room. Both have some old photos & breweriana mirrors, the latter also displays a signed cartoon by Mike Atkinson (author of the ‘Fat Cat' series). There is an upstairs room for functions or overspill, but flyers in bar announced its use as a bistro one w-end a month (trial venture for chef not connected with pub, £35 for 3 courses matched with beers). Sounds expensive compared to daily lunches such as steak, mushroom&tarragon pies, mexican chicken & rice or Kelham cheese & onion, all £4.40. Pub is very close to Kelham Island Brewery (which is not related to nearby ‘K.I.T.') also the Industrial Museum apparently housing largest working steam engine, the River Don Engine.

Another famous pub that although not as busy as its neighbour was packed around the bar area so I got a a beer that seemed to be a prototype by Isca from Devon called No. 133. It was a pale ale in excellent nick and although I forgot to note the price was around the three quid mark. I did spot some faces from earlier which is probably a commonplace occurrence in this area. Although rather more comfortable than the KIT this place is still a victim of its own success and I would be inclined to return to both of them early doors and preferably on a weekday.

In a back street close to the River Don and the Kelham Island area of Sheffield is The Fat Cat, a small red brick Victorian era building that can validly be described as Sheffield’s original real ale mecca and an essential calling in point on Sheffield’s Valley of Beer tour. On an outside pub wall, we see two painted horizontal lines showing the height that the flood waters reached in 2007 and 1864 and note that the latter line is at least twice as high off the ground. We also see the hanging pub sign telling us that the pub is “ferociously independent”. As we enter through the front door, we see an old Cannon Ales mosaic just inside the door. The pub has two rooms, either side of a small central corridor. The smaller bar, on the right hand side, has fixed padded seating round the perimeter of the room and red velour covered bar stools. The walls are decorated with a fine collection of brewery mirrors and posters. The kiosk style bar servery is three sides of a rectangle ( the fourth side is the serving hatch to the corridor and the other room ), over which is an impressive old clock. On the other side of the corridor is a larger room, again traditionally furnished and decorated, but more geared towards what appears to be an expanding food trade. A winding staircase at the end of the central corridor leads up to a further dining area, which I don’t recollect being in use on my previous visits. The walls of the central corridor are decorated with an abundance of CAMRA award certificates. There’s also a number of photos showing the pub during the 2007 floods and a framed potted history of the pub since 1981, when an enterprising beer enthusiast acquired the pub from Wiliam Stones. Outside at the back is a surprisingly large patio garden with brick walls decorated with old brewery memorabilia, mainly enamel signs. Of particular note here is an old Fat Cat pub sign, telling us that the pub was once a Marstons pub. There’s also several old Ward’s Brewery lamps. In this yard is the Kelham Island Brewery Visitor Centre, housed in what looks like a former garage. On my recent Sunday lunchtime visit, the pub was filling up steadily with a mixture of diners and drinkers. Despite a certain amount of gentrification nearby, the pub is still in something of a relative backwater, with the consequence being that the customer base appears to consist entirely of local drinkers and other customers “in the know”. This isn’t a pub that you’re likely to stumble across by accident and, pleasingly, the smaller bar on the right, still retains, even now, something of an old fashioned public bar ambience, with a good number of regular patrons on first name terms with the friendly staff being present during my visit. There’s an extensive foreign bottled beer menu, but the emphasis still appears to be on the real ale trade. The pub has always acted as a showcase for the products of The Kelham Island Brewery which is next door to the pub and, on my visit, three of their beers were available ( Kelham Best, Pale Rider and Bete Noire at £ 2.20p, £ 2.60p and £ 3.00p respectively ). The latter, a beer not encountered before, is a moreish dark stout, described as Hirisk Stout and with an ABV of 5.5%. It’s very moreish and worth sampling if you get the opportunity. There were at least 3 other microbrewery beers on offer as well. Sheffield is not exactly short of decent real ale pubs – and the first time visitor might be overwhelmed by the selection available – but this is still an outstanding pub that you should definitely seek out.

Nice traditional local pub, needs a slight lick of paint but its a good real ale house in industrial Sheffield. The bloke behind the bar was a bit dour. Over 10 real ales, but maybe streched a little as the quality wasn't quite on.