Factory Floor is a venue that is both inspired and driven by its connection to Sheffield’s manufacturing industry. I spoke to the venue’s owner and manager Jordan Roberts about the venue to understand the thinking behind it, and why it’s drawing from its locations history.

Back in 2014, Jordan Roberts and Ben Smith utilised their experiences of running a mobile bar, as well as their connections to the city’s street food and live music scene to set up Peddler Market. What started as a purely outdoor event based in Sheffield’s Cultural Industries Quarter saw it grow from 800-people to more than 1,500 in size – at one point leading to Arundel Street being closed off.

“We’ve got a great team behind us now. We scouted out these sites and set up the first Peddler, everyone loved it. So we kept on doing it”, says Jordan as we chat while taking in the vibe Factory Floor.

Now, 12-years on, with a permanent home in Sheffield’s Kelham Island and two other venues – It’s fair to say that these two really love being in Kelham and Neepsend. Peddler Market spawned a number of spin-off ventures, like Pollen, an inner-city Flower Market that’s well worth a visit. Another of these ventures is the visually arresting Factory Floor.

Occupying a former spring factory in Neepsend, Factory Floor brings together a focus on quality drinks with ‘drip methodology, tank beer and cutting-edge acoustics’ – it’s the UK’s first bar that combines drop fusion (more on that in a moment), Tank beer and a big focus on quality audio.

I asked Jordan, why Factory Floor and why was the location chosen?

“Factory Floor was an answer to the requirement of bars in Kelham Island really. Everyone was opening up bars on every corner around the Peddler site, so we thought that we’d have a crack at that. We focussed on high-quality drinks, high quality audio,” he said.

But that wasn’t all, Factory Floor wasn’t just created as yet another ‘bar’. It wanted to not only live in a space where trades and crafts were fulfilled. It wanted to embody the manufacturing process, even if its output vastly differed from what came before.

Something you notice as soon as you enter the venue are the large brushed chilled metal tanks (housing beer piped in from Neepsend Brewery next door), and a uniquely produced ‘drip method’ – purely for the creation of drinks. But why such an elaborate system and is it merely another overly fancy idea? Jordan explained the thinking behind this whole methodology.

“One of my biggest hates is waiting for a pint of lager in a bar and someone’s shaking an espresso martini, so we’ve built a drip system where we can infuse all of our drinks and put them together really quickly,” he explained.

It may seem matter of fact, but it’s an incredibly efficient means of speeding up the cocktail mixing process.

“Essentially, we make the drink for 12-hours and it can be in your glass in less than 30-seconds.”

“We knew we could make flavoured drinks much more accessible, but also of a higher quality.”

“We utilised the drip-system that was originally used for coffee to extract the flavour of content out of a substrate. If you can control the surface rate reaction you can pull out the flavour.”

Listening to Jordan speak so passionately about the process Factory Floor takes, you could be forgiven for conflating some of what he says to something from an episode of Breaking Bad.

“Cold-brew coffee has a bigger flavour and caffeine content, if you combine that with alcohol and fruit, you get a really good result. We pair all of those spirits with a homemade soda.”

However, Jordan is no Walter White and they have found a means of ensuring the effective delivery of (legal) chemical-infused combinations, key ingredients for a good night.

It is refreshing to see a venue taking inspiration from the heritage of the local area. An observation Jordan agrees with, saying:

“The production process was a key element of our whole ethos here. You can open up a bar in Kelham Island in an old industrial place, but you are very quick to lose heritage when you do that.”

“There are a lot of echoes of what this building was previously in Factory Floor, we manufacture everything on-site. Neepsend Brewery next door fills up two of our tanks, we make everything on-site.”

“We’re still manufacturing everything in this area, essentially keeping us true to the ethos.”

We pause, as I take a look around my surroundings you can see pictures adorning the walls of the factory men that used to work in this very space. It may be a different trade, manufacturing is still ongoing, but the essence of a craft remains.

What can people expect at Factory Floor, I ask as we bring our chat to a close.

“A bloody good time, I tell ya”, Jordan chuckles, “Our emphasis is quality. Whatever we are doing is going to be the best of the best for what we think it is in that industry. Whether it’s food, music, drinks. You’ll get the best at Peddler Market, where no corners are cut.”

Factory Floor can be found at 92 Burton Rd, Neepsend, Sheffield S3 8BX

Take a look at this industrial venue and its upcoming events: https://www.factoryfloor.bar/

For more info on Peddler: https://www.peddlerwarehouse.com/

This is part of a series looking at independent businesses in Kelham Island and the surrounding areas.