312 Shalesmoor
Kelham Island
Sheffield
S3 8UL
0114 216 7851
312shipinn@gmail.com
Traditional Town Pub
The Ship has a stunning brown and white tiled exterior advertising ‘Tomlinson’s Fine Ales’. Tomlinson’s Anchor Brewery was next to Bramall Lane football and cricket ground in Sheffield and was destroyed by bombing in World War 2.
After a few changes of ownership the pub was bought by Hawthorn Leisure who did a substantial renovation. This kept nearly all the original features while brightening the interior, and the refurb won a Camra design award in 2016. Sadly the same refurb painted over the exterior black and white timbering, initially in gastro grey and now in an even less sympathetic turquoise-blue.
The Ship serves Taylor’s Landlord and another changing cask beer, plus a good range of craft keg beers. There is a weekly quiz and frequent DJ nights.
The pub must have been a prestige project for Tomlinson’s, given the quality of the work, and the tiled painting of a ship over the doorway is especially attractive. The tiling carries on around the side wall with a sign promoting their Anchor Ales and one indicating the ‘Dram Shop’. A Dram Shop was a small pub room, now more often called a snug, and there was another in Fagan’s not too far a way.
The Ship is even closer to other Kelham Island pubs including the Fat Cat, the Kelham Island Tavern and the Wellington, which would make a good pub crawl.
A photo of the Ship taken a few years ago was the basis for this website’s logo!
I stopped frequenting the Ship post refurbishment. Prior to that it had the feel of a street corner local, with lots of people who gave the impression of having drunk there for decades; however there was very little housing nearby.
The refurbishment made the pub much brighter and more vibrant, but for me it lost its character.