Sheffield pub with grisly past added to drinkers' guide after reopening

The Crow Inn, on Scotland Street, in the city centre, which was formerly known as the Crown Inn, was reopened earlier this year by the owners of the popular Rutland Arms pub.

It is one of several new additions in the latest edition of Sheffield's Real Heritage Pubs, a guide to the city’s most notable watering holes past and present compiled by CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) Sheffield and District.

The building, most recently used as The Sleep Hotel and before that R & B’s Uptown Bar, has a storied past.

The pub was a key location during the Chartist protests of the 1840s and the 1920s Sheffield Gang Wars but is most notorious for its part in the Sheffield Outrages – a series of killings and explosions carried out by militant trade unionists during the mid-19th century.

In August 1859, a saw grinder called James Linley was shot while drinking in a snug at the Crown Inn. The bullet lodged in his head and he died of his injuries the following February.

The Crow Inn is one of several new entries in the guide, containing a wealth of information about the pubs’ history and architecture, which is available to download free online.

This is the third edition of the guide, which was first published in October 2017 and now contains 114 pages.

In his introduction, the editor Dave Pickersgill describes how Sheffield’s pub heritage suffered more than that of most cities from the ‘modernising carnage’ of the post-1960s, when many pubs fell into the hands of the big breweries.

But he acknowledges this trend has reversed somewhat over the last 30 years, thanks in large part to the 1989 Beer Orders which reduced the number of pubs directly owned by the brewing giants, and many distinctive old buildings – from former cinemas to public toilets – have been saved and converted into watering holes.

Along with The Crow Inn, other new additions to the guide include:

Wenue6, also known as The Forum, on Sandstone Road in Wincobank, which opened in 1967 and it notable for its novel design

Blind Monkey, also known as The Firwood Cottage, on Whitehouse Lane in Walkley, which dates back to 1846 and reopened in spring last year after a major refurbishment. It has been entered in CAMRA’s Pub Design Awards, held in association with Historic England

Gardeners Rest, on Neepsend Lane in Neepsend, which was taken over by the community when its previous owners sold up and was CAMRA’s Sheffield pub of the year for 2019

The Millowners Arms, at Kelham Island Museum, which is a recreation of a traditional Sheffield pub created in a derelict warehouse and containing, among other historic features, a 17th century stone fireplace taken from the former Travellers Inn at Wadsley Bridge

The Red Grouse, on Spink Hall Lane in Stocksbridge, which was built in the early 1960s by Samuel Smiths Brewery to serve a new 400-home council estate.

The guide is available to download at sheffield.camra.org.uk/rhp.