Guardhouse Bar @ Garrison Hotel, Hillsborough, Sheffield

Visited yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon. Four cask ales on - Fyne Ales Jarl, Cross Bay Sunset Blonde, Cross Bay Twisted and Abbeydale Moonshine. I had the Twisted at £1.70 for a half, and this was a decent ale with a refreshing taste of lemon and lime, perfect for the sunny weather. There is a pleasant outdoor area with fake grass and a view of the Morrisons car wash. This was a nice little sun trap. Toilets are downstairs, and were clean and perfectly adequate. As this is a hotel bar there is a "press for attention bell" at the bar for when staff are busy elsewhere. A nice smart place both inside and out, with a better than average selection of real ales.

This is a well-designed hotel bar using the original spaces in the brick and stone of the large Hillsbororough Barracks, a set of buildings that is also used by shops, offices and a large supermarket. Typical of a hotel bar in being impersonal, overheated and having subdued music in the background, it is atypical in having two hand pumps and a list of half a dozen locally brewed ales that appear in turn. These included three from Kelham Island, two from Bradfield and one from Abbeydale. I have to say that the list leans heavily towards the pale and bland end of the range available from Sheffield breweries, so it was perhaps inevitable that on my visit I faced a choice of Abbeydale Moonshine and Bradfield Farmers Blonde. I plumped for the former, which, while obviously not being to my taste was in good condition and well served. All the beers listed are about 40p to 60p a pint more expensive than you could expect to pay in a proper pub in this area. This is an interesting building, and the walls have been adorned with an interesting and carefully chosen selection of paintings, drawings and even caricatures of soldiers, mostly British, parading, preening, posing, killing and being killed in various campaigns around the world up to and including Rorke's Drift.

Official site of the Garrison Hotel - www.garrisonhotel.co.uk

Official site of the Garrison Hotel - www.garrisonhotel.co.uk