Day 327
November 23, 2010An amazing sunset tonight
1,352,145
An amazing sunset tonight
A great ‘long lunch’at the Kelham Island Tavern. Good company and great beer.
The Kelham Island Tavern’s glass is much more than half full, it is bubbling over. The back street Sheffield pub has won the Campaign for Real Ale’s (Camra) National Pub of the Year for an unprecedented second year in a row. Not bad for a boozer that was rescued from dereliction in 2002 and nearly went under following the Steel City’s flooding in 2007.
Back then it was shuttered, boarded and sadly dilapidated when bought by Trevor Wraith and Lewis Gonda in 2001, and most thought its best days, like those of Sheffield’s steel industry, had long since gone. But the pair had a vision of running a local pub based on simple virtues – good service, a wide choice of well-kept beer served by knowledgeable staff – which would be a place for people of all ages to sit, chat and sometimes sing, or just read newspapers. And now their dream has become a nationally renowned gem with customers exchanging articulate views on the merits of a Farmers Blonde, a Nutty Black or even a Ludwig Wheat.
A ‘distress visit’ to our local shopping mall Meadowhell
Christmas is in full swing and the place is heaving! It took me 25 minutes to find an available parking space.
The centre was opened on 4 September 1990. With a floor area of 1,500,000 sq ft (139,355 m²), it is the fifth largest (second largest when first opened) shopping centre in the UK. It is similar in concept to the Merry Hill Shopping Centre at Brierley Hill in the West Midlands, which was completed just before Meadowhall.
With over 280 stores, Meadowhall was widely blamed for the closure of many shops in Sheffield City Centre and in Rotherham. The centre attracted 19.8 million visitors in its first year of opening, and now attracts about 30 million visitors a year.
Meadowhall can be extremely busy in the run-up to Christmas, and the January sales. In extreme cases the centre has been known to have a one in, one out policy at some stores. This has led to the centre earning the nickname Meadowhell among many local people.
A night out at the pantomime in Sheffield. The Christmas market is still running and this includes an impressive carousel.
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