Harlequin – Sheffield – 14.6.07...
Harlequin – Sheffield – 14.6.07
On Thursday 14.6.07 I caught a train to Sheffield in order to go to the first real ale festival being held in the Harlequin pub there. We have recently included the Harlequin with our real ale trail of the area as it is close to the Fat Cat and the Kelham Island Tavern.
It was a wet day, but I had met up with friends also going to the festival and we went one stop in the tram then walked down to the Harlequin, glad to get in out of the rain.
It is a lovely pub inside, and we found a table and took a look at the beers on offer. Some were on handpumps in the bar, about 6 were on gravity upstairs in their function room along with another 2 on handpumps.
I had taken 10 bottles with me as I doubted that I would be able to get through the list on my own, and this proved to be the case – in fact, I had another 2 bottles of someone else. We discussed whether to go on to the Hillsborough as there was a festival there too, but with so many beers where we were we decided to stay put.
The beers sampled were: Brentwood Hop and Glory, Norfolk Cottage (2) Five Weirs Ale and Bridghouses Premium, Ashover Amber Rambler, Beeston Church Spired, Bull Box Bagges Bitter, Saffron Braintree Silk, Fat Cat Meow Mild, and Bradfield Farmers Jester. The latter came on because a beer from Wonky Dog brewery was not in a good condition. I had bought the Wonky Dog beer but had bottled it for later.
The beers bottled were: Wonky Dog Sunbeam, Wagtail Black Shuck Stout, Hornbeam Top Hop, Famous Railway Tavern (2) Elderflower Ale and Jessies Festival Ale, Globe Dark Star, Saffron Broxted Bitter, Wissey Valley (2) High Partridge and Bodicea’s Revenge, Howard Town Melandra, Crouch Vale (2) Oregon Best and Red Herring.
These beers were drunk half on Friday night and half on the Saturday night when we were in Barnard Castle, and they were all fine, including the Wonky Dog. It had been a brilliant festival and I hope it had been a great success for them. Another plus on the day was the excellent value good quality food on offer. It is a very comfortable pub with good beers and good staff, and deserves to be on the Sheffield trail.
Since I was there on the 14th, The Harlequin was one of the pubs that was hit by the Sheffield floods and the downstairs rooms were badly affected I understand. They are however fighting back, and I understand on the day of writing this (3.7.07) that they are planning to open this week with gravity ales in the upstairs function room. I am going to try to get to them on Thursday as they, along with others on the trail, deserve our support.
