The great Sheffield down Town pub run 1960-80ish

A long bar opened up in front of you as you entered ,the bar had high stools and a brass foot rail .

I always reminded me of those gangster bars you would see in old American films .

Actually most bars in the US and Canada are still like that. The stools and the foot rails that is. Standing at bars is not encouraged too much, When I first came to Canada, I was told to find a table and wait to be served if all the bar stools were taken lol

On the very edge of Town was Sheffields own Sodom and Gomorra,but with a laugh on its face and a story to tell of nights in the sixty's and seventies ,nights that have never been surpassed due to the shutting down of our Towns best ever dance hall The Locarno.

Any who was any one around Town at that time headed for the Locarno on a Friday ,Saturday and Sunday nights.

Due to its location the pubs that surrounded it did a roaring trade and through the fog of years I will try to remember the good times that surrounded the Moorfoot, London Rd area .

If we start at the first port of call then that would be the Travellers on the Moor , entering this pub was like entering Dirty Dicks in London as the place always seemed dark and foreboding with nicotine stained walls covered in posters advertising the latest turns that were forthcoming to the rear large concert room .

A miner (or is it minor) bird would greet you as you entered telling you to go forth and multiply and this fowl was often accompanied by its owner and landlady who would do the same if you crossed her as she showed you the front door.

The concert room was at the very rear of the pub and the stage had a pair of mucky curtains that were drawn back when the turn came on , the turn was some times a singer or a comedian and they were usually introduced by Bobby on the drums and Vera on the piano to a great fanfare of drum rolls and piano banging.

By far the most popular turn was Ron Delta a Sheffield legend of a comedian who should have been on T.V as he was as good as any that had national fame at that time .

The only problem was that Rons material was usually very blue and risky as he stood with fag in hand telling the latest bedroom or below the waste line joke as he had all and sundry in stitches peeing them selves with laughter.

Walk down the Moor for a couple of hundred yards turn right onto Cemetery Road and you come to the pub that was packtist fullest pub on a Friday night that I have ever know .

Eric and Irene Whittington were the hosts and a very smart couple they were both in business and looks.

You entered by the front door and to the left was the best room and the bar , The bar was Cheers type one that was surrounded by front room , rear room and side area .

All these areas got so packed at weekends that it was almost impossible to move one way or the other.

The stairs on the right that led to the living quarters ( as you looked forward) also had drinkers sitting on them and Eric had placed his radio gram on the landing so as any one could put on the latest Sinatra , Frankie Lane or Ella record as they were his favourite artists.

One regular at the Oak was a ready mix lorry driver called Dennis and his party trick in the packed pub was to ask the lasses in the packed pub to feel how soft the leather was on his new belt this resulted in many loud screams for some reason although to this day I do not know why a trouser belt caused so much mirth and laughter in the pub.

Across the road near the Lacarno was the Hermitage (is it still there) and this newly built pub boasted a sweeping staircase leading to a balcony area (not a wise architectural idea when the daft lads had had a few pints on a Friday night as many a pint some how tipped over onto the crowds below in fact many an unlucky customer ended up in some ones lap as they some how exited the upper floor the quick way down.

The Hermitage also had strippers on stage on various nights making this pub a must go to venue for young lads out for a bit of an eye full.

Next pub up was the Albion and this was just above the Lacarno on London Road .

The cliental that used the Albion were shall we say the more mature types among the Lacarno crowd as this was a pub that insisted on standards ,no swearing in front of ladies (taken for granted in them days any way) and one was expected to move away from the bar and sit down on the plush backed seating

The Albion walls were covered in horse brasses and paintings of hunt scenes and was a pub that was a bit up its own arssse for us lads from the Lion .

Where next we must have missed summat anp't we.

Don't forget the Albion an the formidable Phoebe, nearest pub to the Locarno.

An old wiork mate of mine was the brewer at the Frog and Parrot a man by the name of David B Staves. I had moved out of Sheffield by that time so never confirmed it. He had been doing home brew for many years and been very succesful at it producing many a fine drop.

I agree it is one of the best threads, along with Sheffields old Brickies, tales I had heard from my late husband, the names jolted my memory of stories he told me!

I nearly forgot !!!!!!!!!

The Marples ,we can't leave this booze up without mentioning this Sheffield landmark in another neglected part of our City centre.

At exactly 11.45 pm Dec 12 th 1940 German bombers flattened this pub so today it is 76 years to the day and on a night similar to the one at this very hour .

Around 70 people who had been having a sing song perished in the pub that night, I remember the derelict site in the fifty's along with the one across the road that stood empty and forlorn until the new Marples and C@A across the road raised up from the ashes of war.

The new pub opened in 1959 and what a splendid building it is standing proudly on the corner of High Street And Fitzalan Square .

Sadly no longer trading as pub (the very history of the place should have made it the one to be still in use as it would have been a much better venue than the one Wetherspoons opened over the road).

Any way the new Marples was on two levels the upper one being reached by a magnificent flight of twisting marble stairs , stairs of which i have a very painful memory as I fell down them some time in the eighty's while wearing a pair of those daft platform multi coloured shoes along with flared trousers (so much for the Barney Goodman look that started this thread of in the Lion all those years before).

Upstairs was a concert room although I do not remember any of the Sheffield top groups playing there it seemed to be mostly the odd solo turn and some times a piano and organist encouraging a sing song much like the night when the bomb fell in the war years .

There was a bronze plaque just inside the High Street entrance remembering the lads and lasses who died but I don't know if it is still there.

Any way thats the Marples getting its mention and I will leave it there until the old grey matter revs up again and my typing finger is out off plaster.

Way back in the 60s the Locarno was always packed because in those days pubs called closing time at 10pm,where as the Locarno upstairs bar had a licence until 1am so you can imagine the crush as all the townies descended upon it!.A mate and I went Thursday and Sunday nights for a drink and the squirrel dance with a selected wench,twice round the floor and outside for your nuts!.I had a narrow squeak with my car one late night leaving the Locarno,it was a Standard Vanguard with a three speed column change which was notorious for sticking in gear!.It stuck in first,wouldn,t come out so I drove all the way home to Owlerton in that gear,the engine revving its konks off,god knows how much petrol it burned,I never saw a police car all the way,I was a lucky boy that night!

had some good times in the lorcano. if you did"nt pull, you"d always got the fish and chips to look forward too. best fish n chips in town, just outside the locarno, anybody remember them.

I nearly forgot !!!!!!!!!

The Marples ,we can't leave this booze up without mentioning this Sheffield landmark in another neglected part of our City centre.

At exactly 11.45 pm Dec 12 th 1940 German bombers flattened this pub so today it is 76 years to the day and on a night similar to the one at this very hour .

 

Around 70 people who had been having a sing song perished in the pub that night, I remember the derelict site in the fifty's along with the one across the road that stood empty and forlorn until the new Marples and C@A across the road raised up from the ashes of war.

 

The new pub opened in 1959 and what a splendid building it is standing proudly on the corner of High Street And Fitzalan Square .

Sadly no longer trading as pub (the very history of the place should have made it the one to be still in use as it would have been a much better venue than the one Wetherspoons opened over the road).

Any way the new Marples was on two levels the upper one being reached by a magnificent flight of twisting marble stairs , stairs of which i have a very painful memory as I fell down them some time in the eighty's while wearing a pair of those daft platform multi coloured shoes along with flared trousers (so much for the Barney Goodman look that started this thread of in the Lion all those years before).

 

Upstairs was a concert room although I do not remember any of the Sheffield top groups playing there it seemed to be mostly the odd solo turn and some times a piano and organist encouraging a sing song much like the night when the bomb fell in the war years .

 

There was a bronze plaque just inside the High Street entrance remembering the lads and lasses who died but I don't know if it is still there.

 

Any way thats the Marples getting its mention and I will leave it there until the old grey matter revs up again and my typing finger is out off plaster.

On the 'plaque' subject, there used to be one outside the old 'Hermitage' on London Road, worded something like 'original building destroyed be enemy action December 1941'.

I vaguely remember the bar downstairs,it was called Gay Paris I think,probally wouldn't be able to be called it today.

had some good times in the lorcano. if you did"nt pull, you"d always got the fish and chips to look forward too. best fish n chips in town, just outside the locarno, anybody remember them.

You had to treat the lady who you had offered to walk home to fish and chips .

I can still remember the wonderful smell it left on your fingers the next morning .

You had to treat the lady who you had offered to walk home to fish and chips .

I can still remember the wonderful smell it left on your fingers the next morning .

I trust you meant the smell of the fish and chips.