Ale Club Ecclesall: The best spot to watch Sheffield go by is in the window of this cosy pub

If I was elite and nasty enough, I would snap my fingers and have the spot cleared for me on demand, emptied of whoever was bold enough to sit there already. Or, if I was elite but better liked, it would just be respectfully reserved for me in case I was stopping by today.

It’s a space I crane my head to see if it’s free whenever I pass, and more often I walk on dejected, because others have wised up to its superiority.

Really, in telling you, I’m ruining my own chances, but I won’t be selfish. Now you can crane your neck too – the spot is a set of armchairs, framed by the right hand window pane of The Ale Club on Ecclesall Road.

Before we take a seat though, let’s pay respects to the pub first. Dark and shaded like a cosy study, The Ale House is a premium example of that ‘bookshelves and boardgames’ niche that comes from a team trying to create a breathing space on street that has plenty of more-thumping offerings for Sheffield’s nightlife. It also wears its ale expertise pedigree on its sleeve – or, rather, its walls. Tap covers and posters cover the broad side of the interior like proudly-earned medals, and the fridge has the colour variety of the a cinema’s pick-and-mix.

The team has strived to make a deep well of beers to pick from that rotate often. I personally have gone full circle on the craft ale subculture right back to liking plain-but-quality lagers, and more often skip on the IPAs and Pilsners and Hops I don’t have the brains to appreciate, but friends tell me the selection at Ale Club is top-shelf for what they do.

But if I can grab that seat, I don’t leave. Perfectly positioned for you and a friend to make television out of the outside world and natter about what comes. I’ve abandoned more intense plans on Ecclesall Road, or even attempts to go home, in favour of getting an hour on my chair, in the kind of bliss I hope I find when I’m old.

Now my secret is out, and I might not get my seat again. Enjoy it for me.