Gardeners Rest, Sheffield

One of the famed 'Valley of Beer' pubs, not visited previously as it was still closed following the flooding when I was last in the area. Anyway, glad I finally made it to sample the excellent range of beers from eight handpumps in the main bar and four more in the small side lounge (e.g. Tollgate Old Rasputin stout, £2.94). Also has a conservatory and beer garden at the back, overlooking the River Don. A bit of an isolated location, but well worth making the effort to find.

Great little pub with a beer garden overlooking the river.Weirdly furnished but I loved it.Great range of beers and friendly landlady.

Tucked away in the middle of a fairly grim post-industrial hinterland lies this little beacon of light. Severely flooded a few years ago, it has re-opened after a long period of redecoration and is nicely appointed inside with a conservatory and nice garden backing onto the River Don to the rear. The old boy behind the bar was pleasant and welcoming. Some of the interior décor verges on the whacky. Eight ales available (with four from the Sheffield brewery), I tried a couple but thought they were both a little under-par. A couple of proper ciders were also on. Prices were pretty cheap. Delighted to see a working bar billiards table so got stuck in to that for half an hour. A nice little place but the lack of sparkle on the ale quality holds it back from getting a higher score from me. The BB table will guarantee a revisit, nonetheless.

Wonderful pub, and a must on the crawl round the real ale pubs of Sheffield. Hard to leave it really with so many decent beers. They have their own Sheffield Beer Co beers, plus a range of beers sourced form new breweries and all in tip top condition. Our beers of the day yesterday were: Privateer Red Duke, Hamelsworde Spanish Stout, Fell Progressive Pale, Big Hand First Hand, Eden Experiment 103, Blacker & Son Chester Best, Wentworth Bath Watter. Brilliant.

A decent pub and well worth a visit. We called on a Thursday and anticipated their 3pm opening. It was a good ten minute walk from the Fat Cat, but once there, you are happily refreshed downing a good pint of Sheffield Brewing Co beer. We met some locals and visitors and the conversation was non-stop, including the manager who was friendly and helpful. Eight ales on handpump, which included a few guests. I went for the Sheffield Brewing Co Crucible Best, Seven Hills and Brightside Brewery Dark Mild. Look forward to calling again.

I decided to call in here for one final pint, late on a Saturday night and soon started to regret the decision when I found myself walking through a dark, post-industrial landscape that didn’t seem like the obvious location for a pub. But in amongst all the old warehouses there is a pub and thankfully it’s a rather good one. The carpeted front room has the servery to the left and a number of standard table and chair arrangements as well as a bar billiards table. It’s quite a compact space giving it something of a cosy feel. Old maps of Sheffield are on display, whilst some nice metallic beer adverts are also on show. To the rear there is a tiled floor space which includes a conservatory type area. Various bits of local history are detailed in frames on the walls and the conservatory looks out to the rear garden, which I didn’t bother to properly explore in the dark. There was a fair bit of pub merchandise on sale including T-shirts. The pub is tied to the Sheffield Brew Co and they had three beers on the bar – Seven Hills, IPA X and Fifth Anniversary. Guests included Blue Bee Lustin for Stout, Brew Star Blonde Star Hafod Hafod Sun and Hopper and Raw Try Ale. I gave the Blue Bee a try and thought it was a decent pint of stout although I was reaching the point at which my palate becomes pretty unreliable. It’s a strange sort of pub that feels completely out of place, but I got a warm welcome and thought the beer selection makes it worth searching out – perhaps in broad daylight next time though!