The great Sheffield down Town pub run 1960-80ish

In a time before the Beatles ,Sheffielders of a certain age would on a Friday and Saturday nights do the Town pub run.

This ritual continued throughout the sixties ,seventies and into the eighties.

The route was varied along with the pubs and characters that one would find in them .

So we will start of with The Red Lion on Holly Street (the Lion has never been on West Street as has been suggested on various threads).

The Red was the ultimate pub to be seen in around Town in the sixty,s .

Our lot discovered it as seventeen year olds who were the up and coming next in crowd at that time.

You entered the Lion by the front door on Holly Street ,to the left was the snug or best room where the musicians from the City Hall would nip in for an interval pint or two , this room was also used by the old crowd who had probably used the Lion for thirty or forty years and was never used by by the big time Charley,s from the room that one entered to the right of the front door.

This room call it tap,concert or whatever was as around thirty foot in length and perhaps 12 to 15 foot wide , it had a massive Juke box top centre with all the Sinatra,s , Crosby,s and Nat King Coles blaring out at full volume ,these were the stars that the Lion mob empathised with in dress and mannerism. The men in the pub were smart and when I say smart I do not say it loosely as a collar and tie was a must along with a two or three piece lounge suit often purchased from the best tailors in Town , Barney Goodmans ,or Ted Macklins although Barneys was considered to be the best and the wearer of one considered to have made it.

When our lot of fledgling Townies first entered the Lion we espied the widow corner , The window corner was to the right as you entered the concert room and was the prime corner to capture on any Friday or Saturday night .

The first Saturday that our mob settled in there thinking we were the best thing that Sheffield had ever seen we were interrupted by a very large bloke in a fawn Crombie over coat with a tie belt and a black Humphrey Bogart delta rim hat at a angle on his large head.

"Shift" he said , we all looked at each other and said "why"" because thats our corner " said cronbie man and if you dont shift we will drag you out and slap your arses .

Being a bit green to Town protocol us lot trapest out and stood mumbling at the bar while the window corner was taken over by a crowd of blokes a generation older than us who proceeded to take the pith out of us and as by this time the two pints of Stones jungle juice that we had knocked back had began to take effect and we started to answer back to the film stars in the corner.

The out come was that they decided to teach us a lesson and chased us out onto Holly Street where us lot now full of jungle juice decided to feight back.

It was a good feight and we got hamered by the much heaver and bigger men who were all townies with a reputation to protect but we put up a good show even though we had a lot of bruises ,black eyes and one broken nose ,(mine).

We found out later that the corner of the Lion was nick named Kendall corner and over the years we slowly infiltrated this prime position and became part of the in crowd that used the Lion when it was the no one place in Town.

One Christmas week in the Lion a bricklayer whose name was Albert Greenwood decided we should have a conga line out of the Lion, on past the City Hall down High Street and back up Church Street and back to the Lion this line started with the tap room crowd and by the time it got back had grown to such a length that the whole of Holly Street was full of drinkers who decided to have a party on the street.

The bogs in the Lion were outside in the back yard and very small for the amount of customers that used the place this resulted in a pee line that stretched the full perimeter wall of the Lion and the lasses would get an eye full depending on who was stood the furthest away showing of his winkle .

The next pub on the Town run was the Adelphi that stood where the Crucible stands today ,more about that tomorrow.

1961 and 17years old.. my first pint of beer ever,you guessed it the red lion. never forget that night..what do i say what do i ask for, my mate said just ask for a pint of bitter. i cant believe how scared i was..in them days the old bill used to pop in and out looking for underage drinkers..anyway we managed 2 pints of firewater,then left and into the queue for city hall dance (on the pull) down the steps 2/6d admission into paradise.

spent all night in the bog with hughie.

memories eh...

Remember the cast iron nameplate on the closet door? "Trent River Board" I think it was.

The Red Lion was our second port of call Friday nights in the 60s,number one being the Adelphi!.I witnessed a gross scene in the gents at the Lion one night whilst relieving my bladder,one of the local alchys staggered in wobbling all over the place like an MFI wardrobe, finally facing the wall he started to urinate!.He then coughed dropping his false teeth in the trough full of wee wee,he bent down picked them up wiped them on his hanky and put them back in his mouth,zipped up and staggered back out!.I hope the dirty get didn,t have a necking session with his wife on returning home what a scruff!

The Red Lion was our second port of call Friday nights in the 60s,number one being the Adelphi!.I witnessed a gross scene in the gents at the Lion one night whilst relieving my bladder,one of the local alchys staggered in wobbling all over the place like an MFI wardrobe, finally facing the wall he started to urinate!.He then coughed dropping his false teeth in the trough full of wee wee,he bent down picked them up wiped them on his hanky and put them back in his mouth,zipped up and staggered back out!.I hope the dirty get didn,t have a necking session with his wife on returning home what a scruff!

I was a bit later,Claymore,Blue Bell,Golden Ball then Red Lion and if time to Albert.

The Red Lion was our second port of call Friday nights in the 60s,number one being the Adelphi!.I witnessed a gross scene in the gents at the Lion one night whilst relieving my bladder,one of the local alchys staggered in wobbling all over the place like an MFI wardrobe, finally facing the wall he started to urinate!.He then coughed dropping his false teeth in the trough full of wee wee,he bent down picked them up wiped them on his hanky and put them back in his mouth,zipped up and staggered back out!.I hope the dirty get didn,t have a necking session with his wife on returning home what a scruff!

There was bloke who frequented the Lion who was called Honk , Honk was an ex guardsman who was a volatile character.

The bar men at that time were called Eric and Len and they were what we today call camp for some reason:hihi:

Now old Honk would imitate the pairs camp voices and they barred him from the pub .

One night I Entered through the front door and Honk was sat on the stairs that faced you as you went in , He asked me to get him a pint as he could not let Eric and Len see him , so that's what I did but!!! as I backed track to give the beer to Honk a loud scream erupted behind me . Len had been tipped of and had followed me out .

"And thats thee bleeedin barred an all" screeched Len in his best Frankie Howard stance , It took me around six weeks to get back in the Lion only to find that Honk had wormed him self back in a month before .

---------- Post added 02-12-2016 at 20:10 ----------

The next port of call from the Lion was always the Adelphi.

The Adelphi has now been laid to rest under the Crucible theatre as it stood on the exact spot.

As in the Lion the Adelphi had two street facing rooms ,to the left on entering was the concert or tap room and to the right the snug or lounge .

The concert room was very similar to the one at the Red Lion in both length and width and it would get so packed on a Friday and Saturday that it was impossible to get to the bar .

To over come this problem the Landlord big John employed the best waiter to have ever waited on any where in Sheffield .

The waiters name was Jeff or Geoff and he would go around the pub at breakneck speed with a large tray holding around nine pints above his head , when he reached your table or standing area he would lower the tray so as you could reach your order while at the same time using his other hand take your money and give you your change .

Most times no one noticed how much change was offered and some times Jeff was the winner and odd times it was you.

The Adelphi was strategically situated for the last buses at Pond Street and in the early days that was 10 P.M. before the City fathers granted us the luxury of an extra half hour and it moved to 10.30 P.M..

So at sup up time it would be a mad rush down the cobbled Lane that ran to Pond Street and you hoped to get there before the inspectors whistle whistled and all the buses set of on the last run.

This resulted in all the bus drivers putting their foot down in the rush to be first around the corner onto Pond Hill and we are talking of around fifty odd busses all going for it.

This madness also resulted in all the late drinkers from Town running after their home ward bound bus down Pond Hill in the hope of grabbing the chrome rail on the buses rear load entrance and hauling them selves on board .

Many times this resulted in a disaster as the lad or lass mis judged and ended up sprawled all over Pond Hill as the drivers never ever slowed down for any one.

So if you missed that last bus it was the long walk home depending on how far you lived out of town and a row with the Mrs or your mam for being out after curfew .

I was sat in the Adelphi one winter lunch time as I had been laid off the building trade due to bad weather , I had made a half pint last about an hour when in walked Jimmy Clitheroe who was known as the Clitheroe Kid on the radio , Jimmy was in Panto at the Lyceum .

The Adelphi had around six high wooded bar stools and Jimmy clambered up onto the one at my side( he was around 4ft 6 inches tall so it was a bit of a struggle).

I pretended to not know who he was as I thought he might just want a quiet drink without any interference from me .

I was wrong Jimmy started talking straight away telling me what a crap time he was having away from his home in Blackpool and then asking what Iwas doing in the pub on a week day lunch , I told him I was laid of work due to weather and he said that his busy time was the opposite as Christmas was his big pay day time.

He asked me what I was drinking but I refused as I would not have been able to buy him one back but he would have non of that and I ended up with a good session on Stones kindly donated by the Clitheroe kid plus two free tickets to the Panto passed

on to my nieces .

The next port of call will be the Cow boy run on West Street.

Geoff the waiter at the Adelphi was the best in Sheffield how he managed to manoeuvre round the packed barroom balancing nine pints at a time was a miracle!.One thing I remember about him was the spectactular blackheads on the back of his neck,they were like Pontefract cakes,one of the pub comics told him"Its abart time tha got a grip on thee sen Geoff!",to which he just grinned and took no notice and got on with his sleight of hand with the customers change!.I,ve no idea why the pub was so popular packed most nights,it wasn,t the décor it must have been the Stones best bitter!.I always think those nights back in the 60s were the best of my life me being in my 20s single and having lots of good friends male and female,soon to be overtook with married life mortgages,household bills and life commitments in general!.Happy days fondly remembered I should imagine the same for people of my agegroup who knocked about Sheffield in the 60s!.

We often started and finished at the Adelphi because it was the best pint in town but in between usually Red Lion, Warncliffe, Saddle, West Street Hotel, and Albert. Sometimes Sportsman and Barleycorn on the way back and if we had the time and still got the legs the Lord Nelson, the one on Arundel Street.

I love the stories of yesteryear! I never went in any of these pubs (being more of a Marquis of Granby girl!!!) but love the recollections of those who did, Keep them coming,

I love the stories of yesteryear! I never went in any of these pubs (being more of a Marquis of Granby girl!!!) but love the recollections of those who did, Keep them coming,

Well then posh lass:hihi:

Here's a tale of West Street, A Street that made that Metro Golden Mayer film West Side Story look tame in comparison( in its day ).

The Jetts and Sharks that paraded up and down our own West side in the the sixties to the eighties all dressed up to kill in tailor made suits for the lads and smart two piece pencil skirts along with BEE HIVES ??? for the gorgeous pa-teat coy , nylon stocking suspender wearing Elizabeth Taylor look a like ladies who all remained as pure as driven snow til they walked up the isle with Fred ,Albert or Tom after being engaged for five years saving up to buy a teli.

On West Street the three main ports of call were The Saddle , The West Street hotel and The Mail Coach .

The Saddle along with the Mail Coach were Tetley bitter houses and it was due to the names of these two pubs that it was known as the cow boy run .

Entering the Saddle was a strange experience as the pub sloped downwards to a small stage area that must have been twenty yards away.

In the sixties this pub was frequented by football players from United and Wednesday who mixed with the local lads and lasses without any one really noticing due to most of them being on similar wages or perhaps just a bit more than the ordinary steel, building or cutlery workers at that time.

The two players I remember most from that time were Peter Eustace and David Ford both prominent Owls players as well as local lads .

Peter had a car (if I remember right it was an old Jag ) and if any one wanted a lift to some pub in the suburbs where Vince Arnold and the Avengers were playing then no problem just pile in .

The Mail Coach was a different pub in the shape of the interior having a long bar that stretched the length of the frontage (its still there today int it?).

This pub had some notable Sheffield characters as cliental and the one who stands out to me is a bloke called Jack Wasden ,

now Jack was a brilliant amateur footballer who played for Sheffield club and he would often take the pith out of the professional lads telling them he had more medals in his rammel drawer than they had between them (true:hihi:).

Jack also used Cockney rime in his every day speach and no story was ever straight forward as you trid to fathom out what the hell he was on abart most of the time .

Iwas in the Mail Coach one night talking to Jack when I said "its time Il'e ger of home"

Jack replied" don't be daft she's shutting flippin:hihi: curtains".

I wondered what he was on about but soon found out when the outer doors were locked and the selected customers carried on drinking in what was known as AFTER BIRD.

This meant that you could stop and drink until the landlord or lady decided it was time for you to go home.

Many a row has been caused by after bird for many Sheffielders over the years as they rolled home in the early hours after succumbing to the temptation of just one more for the road.

Another part of the cliental at the Mail coach came from the T.A.barracks just across the Road and I remember the officers and ranks staying noticeably apart .

One of the officers was a captain who sported a pencil tash (Jack called it a snott carpet:hihi:)This bloke really thought he was preparing for war with the Soviet Union and would try and explain manoeuvres useing ash trays and beer mats ,all this while whole World was stocking up with atomic bombs which the captain dismissed as not relevant .

Up to now he has been reight .

Just a bit further up West Street and down Fitzwilliam Street was the Raven a pub for the more Beaujolais among us with cliental from the university and hospital (Royal) this was a very interesting pub with a concert room and two or three small snugs where the intellectuals among us could chow the rag with folk who had long hair and beards .

Any way lets not forget The Mucky Duck perhaps a trip down that end will be interesting ?????

I remember me and the mrs being last out of the Mail Coach about 2am one Saturday night and being surprised when the landlord and landlady switched off the lights, followed us out and locked the door. I never knew it was a lock-up pub. The landlord asked me to keep quiet about it.

I remember me and the mrs being last out of the Mail Coach about 2am one Saturday night and being surprised when the landlord and landlady switched off the lights, followed us out and locked the door. I never knew it was a lock-up pub. The landlord asked me to keep quiet about it.

That's a new on me as well although I know

The Mucky Duck was when it was a Sam Smiths house as the landlord some times got the last 102 ,101 or 105 bus home with us.