Looking Back: When we queued to hear musicians like Frank White

Once there seemed to be a public house on every corner.

Now many of those establishments are now either a pile of rubble or have been converted into flats.

The area that I grew up in in Sheffield is no exception.

The Pheasant Inn at Sheffield Lane Top is now unrecognisable, having been converted into retail units.

Over the years the Pheasant had been a very popular watering hole. It was famous for its music nights featuring top local groups, and for its leagues of darts and pool.

During the fifties and sixties it could be standing room only some nights, and you could buy a ticket for the meat raffle, and hopefully win the Sunday joint.

On Star Walk day in the 50s and 60s, when the walkers came up to Sheffield Lane Top from Ecclesfield, the Pheasant became unofficial drinks stop, when walkers would disappear in for much needed refreshment and then carry on with the walk.

It was also popular after Sunday mass at the nearby St.Patrick’s Church.

The atmosphere in public houses in years gone by was very different from that of today.

There is almost no pub existing solely for having a quiet drink and that has not been turned into an eating place.

You can almost feel like a pariah when all you want is a half of lager.

You could get food in the old days, albeit limited.

Chicken or scampi in a basket was almost revolutionary when first introduced, and earlier there was the sea food man with his big wicker basket and cries of ‘cockles, whelks and mussels!’

If people wanted a quiet drink there was always the tap room, but the downside of pubs then was the thick haze of smoke above your head, and of course it would have been unheard of to ask for a cup of tea or coffee.

The Salvation Army were frequent visitors with their copies of the ‘War Cry’ and the rattle of collecting boxes, and there were many men who had to lie over their Yorkshire Puddings and say that most definitely they had not been watching the Sunday stripper!