beegee7

Exactly the sort of pubs I feared would be listed. Fat Cat is a very decent pub, I agree. The New Barrack is reasonable. The other 3 are popular and well run, but are not for me, and that's not saying they are poor. I know the Camra "we have more real ale on sale than anywhere else" slogan. Really good pubs offer more than just real ale in terms of quirkiness and character. All run of the mill pubs offer real ale nowadays, and many from local breweries. I didn't say Sheffield's pubs are all poor, but I don't think there are that many outstandingly good ones.

Really? Would you mind sharing with me the ones in Sheffield you think are the best in the country? Might stop me being such a misery guts.

Agree completely, couldn't wait to finish my pint and get away. Not been / won't be going back. Basically pubs have a difficult job pleasing everyone. I personally hate food in pubs because the smell of the food puts me off my beer. I can understand that others like to eat out though. Similarly I hate kids being allowed in pubs at all - even to eat. I'm also not a fan of music in pubs, but again can see that some folk enjoy it. Lately I have hardly been out because I find most pubs very poor in ways too various to mention here. It's a shame because I really enjoyed going out to pubs and used to go 5 or 6 nights a week. Also I know this is off thread - and is this just me? But I find Sheffield / S.Yorks. suffers pub wise. We seem to have crap pubs, and fewer pubs compared to other places. The south of England has some phenomenal pubs where I enjoy drinking greatly. Recently visited Bath and went in about 15 fantastic pubs that I couldn't find an equivalent for here. For Bath you could substitute lots of other towns. I know the real ale spin about Sheffield.... but drinking real ale in a crap pub is no comfort. Are we not getting the investment in pubs because of the socio-economic deprivation being greater? (Or some other reason?) It was mentioned earlier on this thread that Thornbridge only seem to take pubs in affluent areas. Anyone agree?

Because just 3 cities decide to extend their tram routes Sheffield should follow? Nonsense. Look at the finances and the topography and you'll see why. You can put a tram system in, but it doesn't mean it is value for money and it doesn't mean people will use it. Look at the amount of cycle tracks which have been built in Sheffield at considerable expense for just a few cyclists to use. Complete waste of resources. It would be the same, only a more massive waste of money for a service few people want or would use.

No - I stated that public money is still spent subsidising routes, which is true. It is also spent by the local authority by giving, in my view, public transport unfair priority over other traffic. Bus gates, etc. don't come cheap Thankfully after years of treating private motorists as an unwanted problem and then wondering why the retail sector in the city centre is failing, I wonder if things might be slowly changing for the better. I notice that they are now thinking of allowing other traffic to use bus lanes. Better idea - abolish the bus lanes and let all road users use all the roads. Then stop all subsidies for public transport. Most importantly, and in keeping with this thread, don't spend any more money on extending a ridiculously expensive and inflexible tram service which will only cause more disruption and make Sheffield even more uncompetitive than it is now compared to other cities.

Public transport is still subsidised by the public purse and routes are tendered for. The idea that they are run commercially is complete nonsense. As a former worker in the industry I understand exactly how public transport is run. Public transport locally or nationally is very inefficient. I can give you lots of examples of this. I still believe congestion is caused mainly by public transport and I don't believe it should be given preference over other forms of transport. People aren't in their cars causing congestion because they want to be. They are there at busy times because they are working and for a large proportion of them public transport can't meet their needs in its present form. I'd love to be able to use public transport because I hate driving - but my job would be impossible to carry out, as would the jobs of the other 40 odd people employed by my company. Getting back to the thread - the tram is so limited even compared to our very poor bus system. If trams were so good then they wouldn't have got rid of them in the first place. Great for Blackpool, Crich and cutting across fields at Gleadless. Congestion causing in Sheffield except where they don't run on roads. Multiply the destinations and multiply the congestion that's why they got rid of them in the early 1960s and what a good move that was, so much so that other urban areas haven't been stupid enough to reinstate them.

Good point. The bus does get assisted across the ring road, whereas other motorists don't. It is this favourable treatment of public transport that causes congestion. The public transport authorities wrongly assume that everyone needs to go to the city centre = hence you cross the ring road, instead of taking it round the city centre to your destination. This is actually based on the sort of journey patterns that would have been made 100 years ago when trams were installed. Buses replaced trams which were deemed inefficient. Far better to get rid of all the public transport in its current form and review the routes for modern journey patterns and allow us all, private motorists and public transport travellers to travel uninterrupted.

Regardless of funding, I don't want to see the tram anywhere near me at all. I have only used it a few times and it bore out all I considered it to be - a big waste of money. The big problem I have is that it isn't flexible like a car. People's journeys now are quite complex, there are no longer 50,000 steelworkers all going to a few square miles of factories. Lots of bus routes are similar because they tend to run radiallly. So if you were at Lodge Moor and wanted to go to Ecclesall you would need to travel all the way into the city centre then back out on another "spoke" rather than just go a few miles down the road. My other great objection is that it doesn't go where I want it to go. I haven't been in the centre of Sheffield this year and I have no desire to go there, nor any desire to go to Meadowhall, Crystal Peaks, Middlewood or Malin Bridge. Does it go anywhere else? I would actually like to see it ripped out since it always seems to be causing congestion, and just give us better roads.

Well the council needs to send plot holders nice expensive glossy booklets. It's also a huge bonus to provide car-parks that you never see a car actually use, like the one taking up two former plots at Rivelin built despite being advised that plot holders don't actually want it.

Locally I really like the view over Rivelin Dams from the small high path over at Wyming Brook. Further afield I liked looking down over Ullswater from the footpath near Watermillock. Does my missus handing me a pint of ale that she's paid for in a decent pub count as a good view?

What annoys me the most is the charge for water, as the nearest tap to my plot is well over 100m. away and I collect all my water from the shed and greenhouse gutters. I haven't used the tap once anyway since our summers aren't exactly as dry as dust. I take all my own drinking water from home. They should allow an opt out for water. Being charged for a service that I don't use is really annoying.

Nice one fred. You don't need to spend loads to get good results and beginners can do just as well as more experienced gardeners. I tend to spend a little more because it's one of my main hobbies and I enjoy trying new cultivars and have lots of space on the allotment. Even though I spend a little more its still peanuts, probably only equivalent to 1 or 2 pints of beer a week over the year. Did you apply any liquid feed? They tend to like a high potash fertilizer once the flowers are set.

Do they have anything to do with The Packhorse at Little Longstone? Which used to be a lovely quirky pub but has been ruined by whoever is running it now.

Never thought much to the Stag mainly because I don't eat out at all if I can help it, but the last thing I would want is yet another Thornbridge outlet because I don't think much to their beer. Having said that they seem to know their business because every time I go past their pubs they look busy, so they're getting it right for their market audience which amazes me because I would have thought they were now at saturation point.

They don't like lime. So if you have no azaleas or other acid loving plants, just get a big sack and scatter liberally. It should sort them out.