Day 590, It's the Farfield Inn

Dating from a time even before telegraph, it's the Farfield Inn.*  Built in 1753 this Grade II listed building is on Neepsend Lane in Sheffield.

The Farfield Inn survived the Great Sheffield Flood of 1864.  The Dale Dyke Dam near Low Bradfield collapsed and flood waters killed 238 people and over 700 animals.  The pub though survived.

The 2007 floods however haven't been so kind to the building.  Or perhaps it is our modern insistence on making things clean and replacing plaster work, a sort of health and safety issue that has caused some delay in reopening, whatever, the pub is still closed here in 2016 almost ten years later.**

If you've never been in the pub then you have missed a treat.***  A jukebox with the records in the wrong way round, yes they were real 45 RPM vinyl singles, so the B-side played as the A-side etc.  A customer base, if anyone was in (there often wasn't), that was slightly more oddball than found in pubs less off the beaten track.  And a general level of dishevelment that implied you weren't in some funky up-town joint, there was no chance of being served a cocktail of any sort, which is actually a good thing.  I'm almost certain the beer lines had tadpoles living in them, but that was probably just me.****

I expect there'll be a few more floods before this building ever reopens to the public.  If it doesn't mysteriously catch fire four or five times first.  Although the chances of mysterious fire are probably not too high - everyone knows that listed buildings occupying prime building land are much more flammable and likely to 'accidentally' burst into flames and this isn't prime building land.*****

* There's a proper telegraph pole there on the left.
** I have no problem with health and safety, I'm guessing it is too costly for such a large building and the tiny number of customers it attracts.
*** Not really.
**** The Howard in the city centre definitely did used to have 'residue' in the beer lines, and for a busy and popular pub that is inexcusable.
***** Is anyone particularly perturbed by there being two spaces after a full stop and before the next sentence?

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