I've heard that the landlord of The Ship Inn has managed to free himself from tie (it was a Hardys & Hansons house which became Greene King when that brewery was swallowed up a few years back) and now stocks only local beers from micro breweries. I understand that his argument was that he had no chance of competing with the likes of the Wellington, Fat Cat and Kelham Island Tavern if he had to sell GK beers, and I imagine that a consideration in the brewery's agreement with his proposal must have been that the pub has been in the same family for something like 50 years, which would have resulted in some pretty poor publicity if it had gone to the wall. I hope to provide a review later this week.

I hear that The Stag Hotel has recently been taken over by Thornbridge, although I have not been in yet. They now have a growing stable of pubs in Sheffield and district, including Dada, Hallamshire House and Greystones, plus Champs sports bar, a number of gastro-pubs out of town and a substantial share of the Sheffield Tap. Apparently, they are also soon to take on the lease of the Bath Hotel. This will be a sad day for me, as it has been my local since moving to Sheffield, and I am seriously unenamoured [if that's not a real word, its creation at this time feels somehow necessary] of Thornbridge beers (see my review of Great Gatsby).