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All change as railway buffet thoroughly refreshed
IN the golden days of rail travel, most stations had refreshment rooms offering places warm to sit and enjoy drinks with those setting out on journeys or those who had just arrived.
Sheffield's opened in 1904 as a bar and restaurant for first class passengers, with a serving hatch for those in other classes, and survived in various forms until 1975 when it fell out of fashion.
Since then it has been used mainly for storage, but when Jamie Hawksworth found himself on platform one about 18 months ago, he decided it was about time it returned to its former glories.
Mr Hawksworth, who gave up a career in railway engineering to get involved in the beer industry, already owns a bar called Pivo in Patrick Pool, York, and is a partner in Czech brewery Bernard.
Inspiration for his Sheffield venture came as he was waiting for a train to London and wondered why there was nowhere to get a drink. Then he spotted the old refreshment room and couldn't resist taking a closer look.
Mr Hawksworth, 33, said: "As I waited I started to look around and saw the empty building on platform one. It looked to me like a fantastic spot for a pub and when I looked through the window I saw there was a bar there already.
"I had just opened Pivo in York and thought this was a great opportunity. But when we finally got through the doors we realised it was going to be a massive challenge – the room was chest height in rubbish."
After Mr Hawksworth and his team had cleared 35 years' worth of the clutter that had been stored in the main room they saw the original refreshment bar had survived but had been badly mangled.
The vaulted ceiling had also been water damaged and had fallen in, and the smaller rooms, including a snug which yesterday was being fitted out with buttoned seats of red leather, were also wrecked.
Mr Hawksworth said he tried to get financial assistance for the project from several agencies, including Yorkshire Forward, Sheffield Council and Creative Sheffield, but was told there were no funds available.
"It has been a real struggle, not just from a financial point of view but with licensing officers, planning officers and getting listed building consent, because the building is Grade II listed.
"Thankfully the Railway Heritage Trust gave us 60,000, but it has cost us around 140,000 so far, and we still have to bring in the stock and get everything finished in time for the opening this weekend."
Derbyshire-based Thornbridge Brewery has also got involved with the project and agreed to supply eight of its cask ales to complement the 200 bottled beers which will be available night and day.
The mahogany bar has been lovingly restored and it is hoped the venue will slowly build a reputation as somewhere not just for travellers, but anyone in Sheffield who is enthusiastic about beer.
Mr Hawksworth added: "It really is all about the beer. That's why we decided to call the place The Sheffield Tap.
"The city is known as a beer city so its only right that there is somewhere in the station to enjoy it.
"At the moment we are not on the map, so we are hoping that people will find us and then find that it is a place that they want to be. If we were on West Street or Division Street people would just spill in.
"Here we want to create a sense of occasion and for people to put a value on being here.
"The whole place has been designed with the drinker in mind and we hope people will appreciate that," said Mr Hawksworth.
The Sheffield Tap, which also fronts onto Sheaf Street, will open on Saturday.
BEER CHAMPION LINES UP CHOICE ALES
Jamie Hawksworth, who has masterminded the rebirth of the Sheffield station refreshment rooms is a partner in the Bernard brewery which is based in the Moravian region of the Czech Republic.
The bar will sell four varieties of Bernard beer, including a dark pilsner and three other export pilsners, which are all unpasteurised, unlike most lagers on tap in UK pubs.
Some of the other beers available at The Sheffield Tap will include an Indian Pale Ale brewed by the California-based Sierra Nevada Brewery; Meantime Stout, brewed in London; strawberry beer, brewed by Timmermans brewery in Belgium; Aspall English Cyder, which is produced in Suffolk; Duvel Green, made by Duvel brewery in Belgium; Weihenstephaner Dunkel, a wheat beer, made by the oldest brewery in Bavaria; La Chouffe, a Belgian beer brewed by Brasserie d'Achouffe and Schneider Weisse, a German wheat beer.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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