The Old Shoe, Sheffield: 'I drank at a vast Yorkshire pub with an even bigger selection of beers and wines'
The Steel City is renowned for its plethora of excellent pubs and bars, many of them among the oldest established in Britain.
The Old Shoe is now surely among them.
It’s two units, with an interior wall broken through, one to the other. Outside (when the better weather permits) there are plenty of café-style chairs and tables.
Indoors, there are small booths to one side, a long banquette bench to the other, and dozens of tables with comfortable seating in between.
Over to the right is probably one of the biggest chiller cabinets that you will ever discover in this county.
It is vast, and it contains a mind-blowing vast selection of white and rosé wines, bottles and cans of lagers and beers, and even more supplies of cider.
For the beer drinker, the best is yet to come, for along behind the bar are some 20 or so taps, already to trickle their nectar into your waiting glasses. Upstairs, there’s another area.
The ales come from local breweries, and also much further afield. It is pointless naming them here because we’d need all the space on this page to do them credit.
But the staff are wonderfully clued-up, and I had an especially useful conversation on the merits of the Sauvignons on offer that afternoon.
In fact, there are both ale and wine tasting samplers to help you make your choice.
The commendable boast of the Shoe is that “everyone is welcome!” and they really mean it.
There are a dozen little details which make it commendable – large-print menus, vinyl on the turntables (but not drowning out the conversational flow) water-bowls and treats for doggie visitors, vegan drinks, you name it, and it all seems to be covered.
Much thought has gone into both service and presentation. Oh, and Exemption Ciderhouse cider is brewed on the premises.
Food is either the usual bar snacks, or you can conveniently get take-aways from nearby restaurants and venues.
It is living proof that enterprise and ingenuity can still make for a thriving pub, or bar, even in these challenging times.
You could say, in fact, that The Shoe is very far from being a load of old cobblers. It fits, very snugly indeed.
Welcome 5/5
Atmosphere 4/5
Drinks choice 5/5
Prices 5/5
The Old Shoe, Unit 20, Orchard Square, Sheffield S1 2FB.