Many of well known pubs, including those down the ‘Valley of Beer’ are along the tram route. The trams are simple and easy to use, each route is colour coded, and you pay the conductor on board. You can buy a ‘dayrider’ pass giving you a days unlimited travel for £2.70, route maps are displayed on the tram and each stop is announced before you get to it.

Starting from the railway station, the blue or purple tram will take you two stops to Castle Square, where the Bankers Draft is located. This is a Lloyds No1 branded Wetherspoons pub and is massive, with a good beer range.

From here, leave by the back door and if it’s your cup of tea, the Dove & Rainbow is next door, a punk pub.

Continue on straight ahead, and the rather smart Wig & Pen can be found, which normally has a couple of local beers available, usually from Abbeydale and Acorn breweries.

From here walk past the cathedral and past Orchard Square shops, where you will find the museum, a Greene King pub with a good selection of guest beers. In good weather you may like to sit outside in the square, if not there are plenty of nice comfy chairs inside!

Return to the Cathedral tram stop now, and get the tram up to West Street. You now have the choice of the Devonshire Cat, Bath Hotel, Frog & Parrot, Red Deer, Muse, Swim Inn and the Washington. There is also Cha Cha’s Indian buffet restaurant which has real ale and real cider available on handpump to accompany the food!

Back on the tram, head down to Shalesmoor, which is the gateway to Kelham Island. Right next to the tramstop is the Cask & Cutler, which is almost a shrine to the microbrewer, also over the road is the Ship Inn, one of the few pubs in Sheffield serving Kimberley ales.

A short walk from here will take you to the Kelham Island Tavern, an excellent freehouse with a good beer range and a pleasant garden, this is our branch pub of the year. This pub had an extension built at the rear a year or so ago to accommodate the growing number of customers, this provides a second, airier feeling room which is non-smoking.

Round the corner is the well known Fat Cat, the original free house, also well known for good value home cooked food, with decent vegetarian and vegan options. This is another pub with a well tended beer garden created in the back yard. Next door to the Fat Cat is Kelham Island Brewery, owned by the same person, and as a result many of the Kelham Island beers can be tried in the Fat Cat.

Continue on walking and turn left, over the bridge and you come to the Riverside, a fairly smart and relaxed bar with a good selection of beer and an outdoor seating area overlooking the river Don.

On from here is the Gardeners Rest ( you could get on the 53 bus a couple of stops if you don’t fancy the walk). The pub serves many of the Timothy Taylor’s beers along with up to 6 guest beers.

Now on to the New Barrack Tavern, a 3 room TyneMill pub with the regular beers complemented by five guests along with a range of ciders and foreign beers.

Return to the tram by walking up the hill to Bamforth Street stop, where you can get the tram to Langsett Rd for the Hillsborough Hotel, home of the Crown Brewery.

Fat Cat / Kelham Island Tavern / Kelham Island Brewery / Tyne Mill / Gardeners Rest / Devonshire Cat / Stagecoach Supertram