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Disappointment of the week with Bucking Fastard
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Detail Pages
The Commercial, Sheffield
Chapeltown
Postal town: Sheffield
S35 2XF
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 8½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rob Hunter left this review about The Commercial
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.
On 26th July 2018
- rating: 8
[User has posted 750 recommendations about 598 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Will Larter left this review about The Commercial
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.
On 30th October 2013
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3733 recommendations about 3470 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Alan Winfield left this review about The Commercial
The Commercial is a largish victorian looking pub that is a few minutes walk up from the Coach and Horses.
The pub has got two front doors i went in the one on the right and this took me into the main bar where all the pumps were on,this room was quite nice with the bar to the left and nice carpeted area to the right which had bench seating and chairs,the room to the left was more like a bar and i could see a pinball machine and a few games machines in it,there was also a small snug to the front left.
There was a very good choice of micro beers on the bar with all 8 pumps being used,i had a drink of Blue Bee Bees Knees bitter which was a very dark bitter and also very tasty,the other beers were York Centurian,Milestone Pearl Black,Two Roses Going for Gold,Dunham White Lion and Wentworth Imperial / Whopia.
The pub had a nice atmosphere and there were a few locals enjoying the good choice of beers here.
This pub is a must visit if you happen to be in Chapeltown.
Pub visited 21/7/2012
On 21st July 2012
- rating: 9
[User has posted 6113 recommendations about 6113 pubs]