The Commercial, Sheffield

The Commercial has been on my radar for a while and despite a couple of visits to Chapeltown I was never brave enough to pay a visit. When you're on your own I find it a bit of a gamble setting foot inside some pubs and this one looked like a bit of a locals' pub and I feared the bar would fall silent as all the locals glared at me. Anyway I managed to man up a bit yesterday (and also noticed an outdoor area as a backup plan). It turns out I needn't have worried. As you enter through the right hand door there is a small corridor with the servery to the left with the 9 hand pumps (8 for real ale, 1 for cider) and a semi opened out seating area to the right. This room consisted of banquette seating with tables and chairs and the shelves of condiments suggested this would perhaps be more of a dining room during food service hours. This room actually looks like it may originally have been two rooms, now with just an archway between them. It felt comfortable yet traditional. To the left of the servery is another room which appears to have been more opened out and wraps round the back of the servery, and leads out to the toilets and the beer garden and car park. There was a pool table in this room to the left and not much that I noticed in the way of seating. There is also a separate entrance to this room but I did not notice if it was in use. All the pumps were clipped and appeared to be in use at the time of my visit. The Commercial makes a point of always having a porter or stout available and at the time of my visit this was Black Bee by Phoenix, a honey porter. I have had this before and really enjoyed it, but there were so many other beers available I have not tried before I resisted temptation and went for the Comosus by Neepsend followed by the Deception by Abbeydale - both local Sheffield breweries. Both set me back a reasonable £1.60 per half pint. I took my second drink out to the beer garden, which is a small pleasant green area at the bottom of the car park containing 7 picnic benches with parasols. There are a further couple of picnic benches to the side of the pub, near the road. As I was sat in the beer garden enjoying my drink a shrill fishwife could be heard - I assumed it to be a neighbour in one of the nearby houses (it is school holidays after all) but on leaving the pub I noticed an older couple sat on the benches to the side of the pub who were either having an argument or some kind of shouting competition. The gents are fairly basic but again traditional, with three large urinals and a small sink for washing your hands. I have uploaded some photos and you can see that the pub has barely changed from the front since the 2011 and 2012 photos, except for some of the signage has been updated. No fancy trendy grey paint job with the name of the pub written in fancy italics - just proper brick and stone and black painted doors. I can echo the sentiments of the previous reviewers and say this is well worth a visit when in Chapeltown.

As Alan says below, a must visit when you're in Chapeltown, the Commercial is a magnet for real ale lovers. Its proximity to the railway station made it handy for a beer on the way to or from Barnsley in the days when Luton Town still had regular fixtures there, as this is certainly better than anything in that town (and I include the Old No.7, the current Camra pub of the year). Now with nine hand pumps on the bar, these had three Wentworth beers on at the time of our visit, plus six local guest beers. I had Sheffield Toolmakers Bow Saw and Milestone Sherwood, the latter being an old fashioned mild at the astonishing (but authentic) strength of 5.6%. As well as real ale drinkers, this pub caters for family meals so there was a mixed crowd in on our midweek visit. Not to be missed if you're passing this way - just hop off the train and get the next one an hour later.

The Commercial official site with ale list and event details - thecommie.co.uk

The Commercial official site with ale list and event details - thecommie.co.uk