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The Ball At Crookes.

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The Ball in my opinion is the best pub in Crookes, but so often it is let down by having too few bar staff.

Anyone else noticed this?

 

 

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terrible bar service and customer service

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It's a good pub in that it does most things quite well. So it scores 7 out of 10 on everything. It's consistent but not spectacular, just decent enough. It doesn't have enough staff for the size of the place though.

 

I've only been once in its new guise but the Punch Bowl might well be better. I also like the Princess Royal and the Cobden View but I don't go in them that often because of location.

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Used to love it great pub with atmosphere however last time I went in which to be fair was a few years ago it was a really cold day and the heating was off and  it was freezing and to be honest it looked tired and dirty. Must give it another go.

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The Ball is probably the definition of mediocrity as far as pubs go.  For years it's just sort of been there, a stop gap option. Doesn't really have much character for a neighbourhood pub. Granted, whenever you're trying to please as many people as possible the offering gets watered down. That is the business strategy of The Ball and has been for a long time.

Princess / Cobden View / Hallamshire / Closed Shop are by far the best pubs in the area and even if all those closed down tomorrow I'd rather walk to the Blake than waste time among the sticky tables and dog eared menus of The Ball.

I spend a fair amount of time around Crookes even after moving out of the area and not once have my friends or I even mentioned The Ball in passing as being a potential option, that's how far out of being remotely appealing a prospect it is to us,

 

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Guest makapaka
On 02/11/2019 at 11:29, jackanderton said:

The Ball is probably the definition of mediocrity as far as pubs go.  For years it's just sort of been there, a stop gap option. Doesn't really have much character for a neighbourhood pub. Granted, whenever you're trying to please as many people as possible the offering gets watered down. That is the business strategy of The Ball and has been for a long time.

Princess / Cobden View / Hallamshire / Closed Shop are by far the best pubs in the area and even if all those closed down tomorrow I'd rather walk to the Blake than waste time among the sticky tables and dog eared menus of The Ball.

I spend a fair amount of time around Crookes even after moving out of the area and not once have my friends or I even mentioned The Ball in passing as being a potential option, that's how far out of being remotely appealing a prospect it is to us,

 

It’s easily the most popular pub on crookes - never been any sign of a downturn unlike other pubs in the area.

 

hardly the definition of mediocrity.

 

 

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1 hour ago, makapaka said:

It’s easily the most popular pub on crookes - never been any sign of a downturn unlike other pubs in the area.

 

hardly the definition of mediocrity.

 

 

Its popularity is related to the lack of any decent pubs in Crookes and always has been. Used to go there when I lived in Crookes, but the reason was its near and not because its somewhere I was enthused to go to.

 

I've heard the Grindstone was redone, so maybe that is a decent option now (have not tried). Not living in Crookes I'd always go towards Commonside for decent pub options (Hallamshire/Closed Shop and not too far from the Blake either) or Walkley (Blind Monkey seems good nowadays, and it has the excellent small beer place on the high street).

 

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Having been to the Punch Bowl again that's definitely the best pub in  the high street area. 

 

The Grindstone wasn't right last time I went (after the refurb) and has closed and opened again since. Maybe it's OK I'll have to visit again. Noah's Ark  used to score 1 or 2 out of 10 but since the refurb I'd give it 6 - i.e. not terrible but I'm  still not going to bother going there. The Mason's Arms is similar - it's no longer terrible but it's not for me. Two Sheds is OK but lacks something, not sure what, and I don't like the seating and layout where you always seem to be in someone's way wherever you are (and have they got shut of the daft rear car seat yet?). So I'd probably go in the Ball in preference to all those.

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Guest makapaka
1 hour ago, nightrider said:

Its popularity is related to the lack of any decent pubs in Crookes and always has been. Used to go there when I lived in Crookes, but the reason was its near and not because its somewhere I was enthused to go to.

 

I've heard the Grindstone was redone, so maybe that is a decent option now (have not tried). Not living in Crookes I'd always go towards Commonside for decent pub options (Hallamshire/Closed Shop and not too far from the Blake either) or Walkley (Blind Monkey seems good nowadays, and it has the excellent small beer place on the high street).

 

You can walk from the ball to any of the pubs on commonside or Broomhill - plus there’s plenty of other options in crookes so people aren’t forced into using it.

 

its popular because - well - it’s popular with people.

 

 

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3 hours ago, Bilge said:

Having been to the Punch Bowl again that's definitely the best pub in  the high street area. 

 

The Grindstone wasn't right last time I went (after the refurb) and has closed and opened again since. Maybe it's OK I'll have to visit again. Noah's Ark  used to score 1 or 2 out of 10 but since the refurb I'd give it 6 - i.e. not terrible but I'm  still not going to bother going there. The Mason's Arms is similar - it's no longer terrible but it's not for me. Two Sheds is OK but lacks something, not sure what, and I don't like the seating and layout where you always seem to be in someone's way wherever you are (and have they got shut of the daft rear car seat yet?). So I'd probably go in the Ball in preference to all those.

I'd agree, the Ball is simply the best of a very bad bunch.

 

Two Sheds on paper seems fantastic, but I also found something did not quite work for me in the way it does in the micropubs dotted around sheffield elsewhere. I tried the Masons arms after the refurb - got as far as the door and saw it was full of vert drunk people singing karaoke (over a few other people that seemed to be screaming for no apparent reason!) which put us off .

 

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18 hours ago, nightrider said:

I'd agree, the Ball is simply the best of a very bad bunch.

 

Two Sheds on paper seems fantastic, but I also found something did not quite work for me in the way it does in the micropubs dotted around sheffield elsewhere. I tried the Masons arms after the refurb - got as far as the door and saw it was full of vert drunk people singing karaoke (over a few other people that seemed to be screaming for no apparent reason!) which put us off .

 

I prefer the Two Sheds over The Ball but agree that is does lack a bit compared to other micropubs. I haven't tried the Punchbowl in its latest re-incarnation so that might be another option.

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Was up crookes the other week and here's my ten pence worth , the grindstone was empty and the beer very watery ? , the noahs ark was full and good value for money beer wise , the masons was closed ( the landlord allegedly done a runner) , the ball was ok , good range of beer but a bit bright for my liking , the two sheds was busy and ok and the punch bowl ( 1st time in since re-furb) was ok , down on what i expected from a full re-furb , it looked to me like it had just had a fresh coat of paint and a few new pictures up , and the beer was very dear easily the most expensive on crookes .

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