AY1975

Does anyone know what is happening with the Old Queen's Head pub on Pond Street by the bus station? When I tried to go in there at about 9.30pm last Saturday it had a To Let sign up and there were lights on and people inside but the entrance looking towards Flat Street was locked. When I tried to go in there one evening earlier this year it was closed and there were no lights on.

Including the Grind Cafe on Whitham Road, just up the hill from the Nottingham House. I suppose the Grind kind of makes up for the loss of Vittles - their all-day breakfast (and vegan breakfast) is excellent. They also have another outlet on Kelham Island.

I know this is well after your friend's visit in March, but I've only just come across this thread. For future reference South Street Kitchen on the ground floor of the Park Hill flats is worth a try (only until 4pm, though: they open for lunch every day but only on Friday evenings). Or the Fat Cat pub on Kelham Island.

Wagon Rasoi has recently reopened, presumably under new management, having been closed for several months. It still offers a small selection of curries but now also does things like burgers and pizzas. I was once again the only customer in there when I made use of it recently, though. I think it's closed on Tuesdays but open most other evenings. At the moment there is scaffolding up outside it, and it has a sign hung up on the scaffolding saying open as usual. That was true when the sign was first put there, and it's now true again.

Unfortunately it would appear that Wagon Rasoi has closed too.

Apparently it's supposed to be reopening soon under new management (and probably a different name).

Yes, Max Spielmann according to Google Maps. Excellent. I had a look on their website (https://www.harrisoncameras.co.uk/) and couldn't find any reference on there to them offering that kind of service, but if they do, then that would be ideal for me.

Does anyone know of any shops in Sheffield where you can still get prints from prints or negatives? Obviously they are very few and far between thanks to digital photography. I could preferably do with finding somewhere in or near the city centre or Broomhill, Crookes, Walkley, Heeley, Nether Edge, Manor, Intake, Frecheville or Birley (or if there's anywhere at Crystal Peaks that does it that'd be OK too). There used to be a Jessops in the city centre but I'm not sure if it's still there.

I would second that. Unfortunately I see that the Blue Moon Café has closed. I've set up a separate thread on that at https://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/topic/481801-blue-moon-café-closes/ Has anyone tried Tigs on Campo Lane, or Garden Kitchen on Devonshire Street? And what about the Pom Kitchen in Crookes? I see that there's also a Pom Kitchen on Sharrow Vale Road. I'm guessing that they're both part of the same outfit.

I see that the Blue Moon Café has closed after 27 and a half years. They posted a note on their Facebook and Instagram pages on Thursday 5th January announcing their closure with immediate effect. Basically they'd been suffering from the effects of the economic crisis and the after-effects of Covid so they were running at a loss. A great pity, though not surprising in the current economic climate. I would guess that they also faced competition from other places nearby such as the cathedral café. The Blue Moon was something of a long-established Sheffield institution, having originally opened in 1995 on Norfolk Row opposite the Catholic cathedral and moved to St James Street next to the Anglican (Church of England) cathedral in about late 2001 or early 2002. Sheffield city centre won't be the same without it. Before the Covid pandemic they were open every day except Sunday from 8am to 8pm. They did occasionally get busy in the early evening but it was usually fairly quiet by that time. It was where I usually went before going to an evening event in town such as a meeting or concert. I also had my birthday meal in there a few years running. Since the pandemic they've only been open from about 11am to 4pm, though. At least there are still plenty of other vegetarian and vegan cafés and restaurants in Sheffield, including at least three in the city centre: Dina in Fitzalan Square (not sure if they're doing food at the moment, though), Tigs on Campo Lane, and Garden Kitchen on Devonshire Street which opened in December. See also this long-running thread on the best vegetarian restaurant in Sheffield: https://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/topic/416056-best-vegetarian-restaurant-in-sheffield/?tab=comments#comment-3327769

This year for the first time I've heard the Sheffield Town Hall bells playing Christmas carols on the hour: It Came Upon The Midnight Clear at 3pm today and Hark the Herald Angels Sing at 1pm yesterday. I wonder if that's something new for this year. Has anyone heard it playing carols in previous years, or playing any other tune for any other special occasion?

I managed to wander in and take a ride on it about four years ago. It was about 4pm on a Friday and it was still running but there weren't many people about by then. I would guess that they've got tighter on security since then, though, especially since Covid when they would have had to do track & trace and they might have decided to keep those extra security arrangements in place permanently so presumably everyone who isn't a student or a member of university staff has to sign in at the porters' lodge by the entrance and give a valid reason for being there, and collect a visitor's pass (as has been the case in many office buildings for years). I think they're probably also much more paranoid about undesirables coming in and stalking students than they would have been back in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. But there is a window at the back of the building where you can stand and see the paternoster in operation from outside. I think it's only normally in operation on Mondays to Fridays during normal office hours, about 8 or 9am until about 5.30 or 6pm I think.

I wonder why the 50/50a is reverting to observing all stops? I think it became limited stop between Sheffield Interchange and Birley about three years ago, still observing all stops between Mosborough and Chesterfield, presumably to improve reliability and reduce journey times for passengers making journeys such as Sheffield city centre to Mosborough or Eckington. I am guessing that the most likely reason for reverting to serving all stops is that Stagecoach has decided that it could do with the extra revenue from passengers who will get on at the stops that it doesn't currently serve, and maybe to make up for cuts in other services that serve those stops. Not sure if they will gain much extra revenue by doing that, though, as I suspect that many passengers tend to let the 50 go and wait for the 120 if it takes them nearer to where they want to be in the city centre whereas the 50 only goes to the Interchange. I suppose they might also have had complaints from passengers who want to get from places like Mosborough or Eckington to the stops that the 50 doesn't currently observe, for example if you used to live in Manor, Intake or Birley and have moved out to Mosborough or Eckington but still go to the same doctors or dentists. They might also have had some passengers who didn't realise that it was a limited stop service and who got nasty when the drivers refused to let them get off at stops where they weren't supposed to stop.

Yes, that's right, it was still the West End in the early 2000s when I first moved to Sheffield. Agreed, they used to do really good food too. For a short while after Little Critters Brewery gave it up it still had a good selection of ales. It's a few years since I last went in there, though. One Sunday I went in there for lunch only to find that they weren't doing food but they said they were happy for people to bring in takeaway food bought elsewhere (as some pubs that don't serve food do - the Fox & Duck in Broomhill used to let you do that when they didn't serve food themselves) so I got a falafel from Falafel King on the other side of Glossop Road and took it in the Doctors Orders and had a beer with it.

Does anyone know if the Doctor's Orders pub on Glossop Road, between the University of Sheffield Students' Union and the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, has closed, or does it just no longer open on Sundays? I'm only usually in the area on a Sunday, and the last few times I've gone past it I've never seen it open even though according to its entry on Google Maps it's supposed to be open from 12 noon to 10pm on Sundays. The nearby University Arms pub also doesn't open on Sundays, presumably because they don't think there's enough passing trade in the neighbourhood on a Sunday to make it worthwhile, and maybe the Doctor's Orders has decided to do the same for that reason?