Situated at 1-3 Market Place right in the centre of Sheffield lies the Banker's Draft. For many years this place has always had a bit of a reputation as a dull, drab smoky place where the market crowds and down and outs hung out. However at the back end of last year JD Wetherspoons who own this place decided to give it a bit of a facelift and suddenly the Banker's Draft re-invented itself as one of their more prestige Lloyds No.1 Bars.
The History
It is little surprise as its name suggests that this place spent most of its life as a bank. Occupying a prime location in the city centre it is now ideally situated next to the main bus stops and tram stops and only a short walk from the main bus interchange.
The building itself is quite impressive, from the outside at least. A large mid-Victorian building occupying a prime corner location. Over the past 150 years or so the building has had many different uses but it is as a bank that it has spent the majority of its life and it is this function that most of the older residents of the city still remember it.
I understand from the bar staff that the original
bank vaults are still in the basement, and below these there are remnants of the Victorian stables which were located on the site before the building was erected. These wooden stables were home to the horses which pulled Sheffield's first trams in the middle of the 1900's.
When the Midland Bank (now part of the HSBC chain) vacated the building around 1990 it was JD Wetherspoons who saw its potential to be turned into one of Sheffield's largest pubs.
And so the Banker's Draft was born……..
The Pub Itself
As you walk through the entrance your first impression is certain to be the sheer size of the place. There are two large floors with a balcony on the upper floor overlooking the entrance.
The bar occupies the left hand side of the lower floor and there are tables and chairs packed tightly across the floor space. In the area closest to the entrance there are actually a couple of comfy sofas, but be warned this is no posh establishment.
On the right hand side of the floor there are three or four fruit machines.
The décor is rather drab but to be fair it has improved considerably since its refurbishment last year. At the back of the pub there is a large no smoking area, where children can sit providing they are eating food. Another new addition to the pub since it became a Lloyds No.1 Bar is a large Plasma screen which features music videos during the evenings and sport or news during the daytime.
One of the downsides like most of the Wetherspoons pubs is that the toilets are always a fair distance away. I often find that by the time I get back to my seat I am ready to go again so don't leave it to the last minute.
The downstairs toilets are located down in the basement, as are the kitchens, although there is a disabled toilet on the ground level for Radar key holders.
Still downstairs on ground level there is a back entrance to the pub beyond the smoking area which leads out onto a parking area and Hartshead Square.
Upstairs the décor is slightly better than below, not quite so drab and the chairs are more comfortable. To the right hand side of the bar there is a raised no smoking area.
The upstairs toilets are up a further three flights of stairs so once again don't leave it until the last minute.
There are more fruit machines at either end of the room and on the left hand side of the bar, which is the smoking area, there is a fire exit and an alternative route back downstairs.
The Beer and the food
On a positive note the beer prices are very reasonable, although they have crept up a little since its transformation to a Lloyds No.1 Bar and there is always a very wide range of real ales, guestbeers and several beers from local breweries like Barnsley Bitter and beers from the Kelham Island Brewery just down the road.
A pint of Carling Black Label is currently £1.59 a pint which compares with an average price of over £2.00 in most other pubs nearby.
The food is quite reasonably priced too and always looks very nice but I have only ever eaten here once. I had a Sunday Roast for £4.79 which was very nice and for that price you can hardly go wrong.
The Customers
In Yorkshire we have a saying that goes "There's nowt as queer as folk" and when you walk into the Banker's Draft you will remember this phrase forever. The market crowd with their Jack Fulton carrier bags are present during the afternoon and a few may linger into the evening, but to be fair the clientele does improve at night, and there's less chance of the shoplifting brigade offering you a packet of razorblades or a dodgy Sunday joint.
Opening Hours
Monday - Saturday: 9am through to 11pm with breakfasts served up to 11am. Alcoholic drinks are available from 10am. Sunday: 10am through to 10.30pm with breakfasts served until midday. Alcoholic drinks are available from midday.
The Conclusion
The cheap drinks and the excellent location have always ensured that this place is a popular meeting spot and around 8pm on any evening of the week, but especially so on Fridays and Saturdays you can guarantee a large queue at the bar and a long wait. Yet despite this and the rather drab surroundings I personally would not change it for the world.
I have always found the bar staff to be pleasant and friendly, although serving people in turn can be a bit of a problem. Many of them do seem to suffer from tunnel vision and can only see (and serve) the person stood directly in front of them.
I love this place and frequent it regularly and although I know that it is probably not everyone's choice of a drinking place I would recommend it to anyone.
a very exceptional piece of writing, as a peson who occassionally visits the bankers and have even written my own not so positive review, I think you may have opened my eyes, As a sheffield lass, i didnt even know there were stables once on the site and the remains are below the pub. a brilliant review well produced and info sourced.
Lucie_S1984 16.06.2005 21:40
Have yet to visit Sheffield for a drink! Lucie xxx
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Jun 14th, 2005
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