Heritage pub 2 (sort of): The Head of Steam

Well, it is in the book, but as being on the Sheffield Local Inventory of Historic Pub Exteriors, 'for pubs where the historic interior has been entirely destroyed'. Historic the exterior may be, but it's pushing it a bit to call it a historic pub exterior; it was a bank (The Sheffield and Hallamshire Savings Bank, until in 1977 it became part of TSB) certainly well into the 1970s and possibly into the 90s (the book is somewhat imprecise on exact dates, and Pevsner isn't any more help.) The book does note that this category does include a number of pubs that have been converted from other buildings.

Anyway, for the last few years this has been the Sheffield branch of the Head of Steam, a smallish chain of pubs owned by Camerons, the Hartlepool-based brewery possibly best known in certain circles for having an old advert on the front of the Greyhound at Hawkesbury - to be honest, until very recently, I had no idea they were still going. I used to go in the Head of Steam in Huddersfield - which didn't feel like part of a chain at the time, although it did last time I was there.

As it turned out, the Sheffield HoS on a Monday evening was the ideal place to meet up with the First Mate of Princess Lucy, because it was quiet, and served both dry rose and decent beer, vegetarian curries and classic burgers. It was cavernous, and I wouldn't want to be there when it was busy, and the pseudo-post-industrial vibe is getting a bit 2015, but hey, decent food, good beer and friendly staff, plenty of space and no music counts for a lot. We'll be back there for our next Monday meet-up.