The Old Queen's Head, Sheffield: Plans to revamp city's oldest pub

The popular 15 century pub – which is Grade II listed – on Pond Hill is the oldest surviving domestic building in the city. It is now controlled by Thwaites Brewery which wants to revamp it.

Its plans – recently submitted to Sheffield Council for approval – include repairs and a long list of new things including bathrooms, refreshed bar tops, decorations, furniture, dartboard, flooring, large TVs, music and speaker system, bank shot shuffle-board table and general facelift.

The pub was built near a wetland around 1475 but the earliest known record of it was in a 1582 inventory of the estate of the Earl of Shrewsbury who threw banquets there for guests who hunted wild fowls in the nearby ponds. At this time it was called the Hawle at the Poandes – Hall at the Ponds.

It was this Earl who was appointed by Queen Elizabeth I to keep her cousin Mary Queen of Scots under house arrest in Sheffield from 1570 to 1584. It was reported the cost of upkeep was enormous and the Earl bore most of it on his own, some say it even affected his health and destroyed his marriage.

The name Old Queen’s Head is believed to be a reference to Queen Mary who was later beheaded for plotting to overthrow Elizabeth.

So far, no members of the public have commented on the plans.

To read the plans in full or comment, visit the council’s planning portal here.