Fagan's
Sometimes you find a grimy gem of a pub personifies everything you think is 'northern'. Gloomy '70s decor, a booming man behind a well-stocked bar and his rosy-cheeked wife clucking over food orders. On the menu are superb, toddler-sized roasts, enormous buttery pies and mash and plates of golden fish and chips that could sink ships - each for a purse-friendly fiver. You may meet Richard Hawley at the Sunday night quiz (which includes a delicious free spread) and spill your wine on his cheese (sadly, this is not hypothetical). Imagine stereotypical Sheffield distilled into one glorious watering-hole, a grumbling old man pub in the face of young and trendy wine bars, a beacon of good old-fashioned beer and laughs in an vapid age of cocktails and clubs. This is Fagan's, and it's bloody brilliant too.
Alice Stride
