The Beehive Sheffield: Popular sports pub on West Street set to close for makeover to become Craft Union pub

The Beehive on West Street is one of the city’s biggest sports pubs, which is particularly popular with football fans. It claims to offer the ‘best sports table service in the city’ and serves food and cocktails, alongside the usual range of other drinks.

The pub announced that it is closing after this Sunday, April 23, for a small refurbishment before reopening as a Craft Union pub in the ‘very near future’. Posting on Facebook, it added: “However there is still one week left to go before this and Neil and the team would like you to join us for a big beehive farewell before the change.” This Thursday, April 20, it is hosting ‘Harvey’s Big Beehive quiz’, on Friday there will be ‘Karaoke with DJ Danny’ and this Saturday it has lined up a ‘Goodbye disco with DJ Danny’.

A spokesperson from The Beehive said: “The Beehive is due to close temporarily on April 24, when the business will undergo a significant investment. The Beehive will reopen as a Craft Union pub with new operators and an enhanced community offer in early May. Follow the pub’s social media to keep up with news and updates.”

The Beehive belongs the Stonegate Group, which describes itself as the UK’s largest pub company, and Craft Union pubs are part of that group. Craft Union’s website describes how ‘we stand shoulder to shoulder with our operators, supporting them as they practice their craft of running outstanding pubs’. There are already a number of Craft Union pubs in Sheffield, including the Norfolk Arms and the Globe in the city centre, and The Riverside pub in Hillsborough.

The Beehive was originally built in 1818 as a country inn, according to the Sheffield’s Real Heritage Pubs guide by CAMRA, and takes its name from the beehives that were kept in an adjoining garden. Its previous names include B-Hive, Rockwells, Firkin, Foundry and Firkin, O’Neill’s, and Bar S1.

The Beehive was recently described as a ‘place of solace’ by a reviewer from The Star, who called it the ‘perfect environment in which to unwind and de-stress’.