Kelham Island: New bar that 'looks like a social club from the 1970s' opens in Sheffield

Walking into Neepsend Social Club and Canteen at 92 Burton Road is much like stepping back in time.

The venue, which opened a few weeks ago, features a bar, games area for a quick round of darts or table football, and a canteen style restaurant area.

The venue is split into three main areas – a lounge at the front, the middle is taken up by the canteen and restaurant which leads to a pub games area at the back.

Old pictures of scenes from social clubs in yesteryear adorn the walls, whilst there are maroon coloured curtains that frame the live music stage.

The floor is decked out in traditional patterns and is inspired by the flooring inside a social club in Attercliffe that the owners noticed during a visit to the venue.

The nostalgic theme continues on the food menu.

What is the new bar that's opened in Kelham Island?

You can expect traditional dishes such as Hendo’s pickled eggs, chicken chips in a basket and chips and scampi.

They’ll also have freshly cooked sausage rolls on the bar every evening.

Drinkers can also indulge in specialist beers from the award-winning Thornbridge and Abbeydale breweries.

The whole concept is the mastermind of owners – twin brothers Tom and Ben Miller.

They came up with the idea after a trip to a place called Absalon in Copenhagen, Denmark, a few years ago.

Absalon is seen as part and parcel of Danish culture in which eating and drinking venues are also used as community hubs where people can get together for events.

They incorporated the idea with that of the traditional social club popular in communities in the 70s and 80s and launched Neepsend Social Club and Canteen.

Tom, aged 33, of Crookes, said: “We really think the concept can work.

"We hope people who visit will look around, have something to drink and a bite to eat and feel nostalgic for a different time that is part of British culture.

“We also want to incorporate what we learned in Copenhagen to make the place a community hub.

"Once we are fully up and running we plan to hold events and to support different charities every few months.

“There are some fantastic things happening here down at Kelham Island and we want to be a hub focal point for the community.”

Tom and brother Ben, of Sharrow Vale, initially worked in the hospitality industry in London.

But several years ago they fancied moving out of the capital to take on a new challenge elsewhere.

Said Tom: “We picked Sheffield because of it’s central location in terms of the UK and at the time Peddler Market was just getting up.

"It seemed like an exciting place to us and we used to be one of the vendors at Peddler with our business Gravy Train selling Poutine (French fries and cheese curds topped with gravy).

"So we have now decided to take the next step and open our own venue.

"The space used to be used by a business that supplied ornamental pieces for pubs etc and it looked like a perfect fit for what we wanted to do, so we went for it!”