The Good Food Guide’s ‘100 Best Pubs’ excludes Sheffield? Erm... Hold my beer
How has Sheffield been overlooked?!
The Good Food Guide has just announced its second annual celebration of the country’s 100 best pubs. However, I have thoughts… there are no Sheffield venues in this list, which is a travesty.
First of all, it is important that I congratulate each and every pub that made it to the esteemed ‘century pub club’, plus the winner ‘Queens Arms’ (an admittedly great venue) in the Good Food Guide. My quarrel is not with either of those well-regarded public houses.
I am however quite miffed that not one Sheffield pub was deemed worthy of being included.
Even the national news outlet The Times agrees that Sheffield is something special when it comes to public houses.
They say: “London might be the UK city with the most pubs but is it our best pub city? I'd say no — Sheffield beats anywhere down south.”
There’s a reason that our city is routinely lauded as one of the finest pub destinations nationwide, from its unmatched density of local microbreweries (Abbeydale Brewery, Neepsend, Kelham Island, Bradfield Brewery, I could go on), seamless tram-links connecting an easily-walkable centre, and legendary, award-winning drinking establishments steeped in history.
Fancy a delicious bite to eat in the city’s suburbs? How about The Rising Sun in Fulwood, a ‘convivial boozer run by a local microbrewery’.
Its food is brilliant too. If you missed my review back on July 19, 2026, I praised the ‘great pub atmosphere’ and applauded its ‘exquisite food’... That’s just one example.
Wherever you go in Sheffield there are a number of fantastic pubs and fantastic teams running them that deserve acknowledgement.
Do I need to list some? Ok… Nottingham House (Great drinks, astounding pies), Rutland Arms (iconic ‘Rutty Butty’), The Broadfield (Magnificent Sunday roasts), The Lescar, The Red Deer, The Devonshire Arms… I could go on.
I didn’t even mention Kelham Island in that list, but mark my words the choices we have are astounding.
We are blessed with a multitude of pubs across the city-centre, our suburbs and the wider region. From the selection of locally-sourced beers to your nationally recognised options, right through to our rich and varied food offerings.
Sheffield is home to numerous (and continually expanding) public houses offering food and drink that are not only refreshingly delicious and plentiful, but I would contend are more than deserving of mixing it up among the ‘century gang’ in the Good Food Guide’s round-up.
That we were overlooked surprises me not, it’s nothing new.
But, perhaps each of us need to be better as a city-wide collective when it comes to shouting out about how fantastic our public houses are (by making sure we vote in droves) and let the rest of the UK know about us – It’s the kindest thing we could do.