October 2024 brings you episode two of Sheffield’s hyper-local podcast for Netherthorpe, Upperthorpe and Neepsend, with Tom Miller from Neepsend Social Club and Canteen talking about where the idea for his quirky business came from, and telling me about the difficulties Neepsend businesses are facing since the double yellows / parking changes in the area. Then I speak to Beki Gibb from Oaklea Crafts about terrazzo, wreath and lino printing workshops, including what happens if you go, whether you have to already know how to do it, and what if you want to go but you’re nervous. And finally, a conversation with Brian Holmshaw, the Green Party Councillor for Broomhill and Sharrow Vale Ward who’s also chair of the Central Local Area Committee. They have an upcoming event, all about green social prescribing, that he tells us about. Thanks for reading Netherthorpe, Upperthorpe and Neepsend News! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Timings 00:00 Intro 01:55 Tom Miller from Neepsend Social Club and Canteen 27:52 Beki Gibb from Oaklea Crafts 40:50 Councillor Brian Holmshaw Transcript Philippa Willitts Welcome to the October episode of NUN Local, the hyperlocal podcast in Sheffield for Netherthorpe, Upperthorpe, and Neepsend. In today's episode, I talk to Tom Miller from Neepsend Social Club and Canteen about his business, about what you can expect from his Sunday roast, and about the challenges businesses in Neepsend are currently facing. I also speak to Beki Gibb, who is the owner of Oaklea Crafts. She has some workshops coming up where you can go and learn different crafting techniques, and so she tells us all about that. And then I speak to Brian Holmshaw, who is the Green Party Councillor for Broomhill and Sharrow Vale Ward, but he's also the chair of the Central Local Area Committee. They have an event coming up, and he's here to tell us all about it. Just before we jump into this interview with Tom Miller from Neepsend Social Club and Canteen, couple of points. One is that we recorded on the 18th September. So that helps you position when the meeting was that Tom was talking about. And secondly, NUN Local approached councillor Ben Miskell and Sheffield City Council to give them a chance to respond to the points that Tom made about the traffic and parking changes, but Ben Miskell and the council did not get back to us. Now enjoy the interview with Tom, then Beki, then Brian. Neepsend Social Club and Canteen is on Burton Road in Neepsend with events, pub games, craft beer, and good food. Tom Miller from Neepsend Social Club and Canteen is here. First of all, you call Neepsend Social Club and Canteen a modern reimagining of a classic social club. What made you want to recreate that kind of nostalgic vibe? Tom Miller That's a very good question. It's my business partner, Ben, who just happens to be my twin brother, but we have been in business for 8 years now doing various ventures. And this is the biggest and the latest. It's just something that we have spoken about in the in the past, when we were kids, growing up in Chesterfield in the early years. There's a rich heritage in this country and locally of social clubs, working men's clubs, that we just felt was something to really be proud of. We came across the idea, stumbled into the idea vicariously through going to Denmark. We went to Copenhagen on holiday, just a little holiday, weekend away. And as we do when we go to fun cities that are food led and things like that, hospitality led, go to all these different places and have a great time. And then the idea starts whirring in your head and you think, oh, this thing's great. That thing's great. Why can't we… let's take this home. Let's do our own version of these kinds of things. And we happened to go in a place called Absalon, which is essentially a Danish version of a social club. And we were like, oh, this is brilliant. Like, there's so many cool things about it. The decor was amazing. They had all these wonderful events on, and it's really, really community focused, community led. They did loads of cool stuff like pay what you feel food nights, and things like that. And the spirit of that place, we were really inspired by. We came back to Sheffield and were like, let's do a Danish version of a social club. And then that idea percolated for probably a few months in our heads before we thought, hang about, we've got this rich heritage that I was just referring to, this rich heritage of social clubs and working men's clubs in this country anyway. So the idea transformed into, let's really try and lean into that. And if we're going to do something, let's try and pay homage to the heyday of the social club, which is the sixties, seventies. And that's why we have this Wes Anderson type decor and style down here that we tried to make it as immersive as possible in terms of the decor. And it’s born out of COVID as well. We all spent best part of two, if not more, years inside. That focused the mind a little bit of what might be missing, what perhaps other hospitality venues… There's some absolutely amazing ones, but certainly in the bigger chain hospitality venues that we see so much of, whilst they serve a purpose, we felt like perhaps it's that getting around a community, getting around community spirit, is that something that's lost when you have a chain venue? And we thought, well, almost certainly. Yeah. So why not throw ourselves into a community, head first, and pay homage to all those good things that social clubs and working men's clubs of the past were so good at? Coming out of COVID, let's finally be social. We went on this journey of doing the research for it and the more we looked into it, of the history and heritage. I read some history books. I'm a bit of a history buff as my brother is. He read some history books on social clubs and working men's clubs. And, yeah, the more we read into it, we were just like, wow, there's such a rich history here, especially in Sheffield, that we can try and celebrate and hopefully not step on the toes of, but pay homage to. And so we thought let's go for it. Philippa Willitts And what made you choose Neepsend as your base? Tom Miller So Neepsend, looking back through the archives, because when we were looking for lots of things to put on the walls here, I went back through the archives and basically looked at every picture from years gone by. And the transformation from what it was then to what it is now was crazy. It was really crazy to see. You know, it was incredibly residential, but as with all those red brick Victorian factory buildings, you had a factory and then you had residential right next to it, which maybe wasn't the best idea in hindsight with all those chimney stacks, but that's what it used to be down here. Seeing how different it was then to seeing it now was kind of inspiring, to be able to see what it was like in its heyday then as well. So we thought things are changing around here as well. We have Cutlery Works, and you know, Heist Brewery, and Parrot Club, and Peddler Market, of course, is one of the OGs, and we've done a lot of work down here. We've been at Cutlery Works ourselves as the Gravy Train, the original incarnation of our business. And we'd done a lot of work at Pedlar Market. So we kind of felt like we knew the area. There are already hospitality businesses. You know, I don't know if I'd have been brave enough to go out and do it by myself, but there are already hospitality businesses in the area that we really respected and thought were thought were great. So it was being able to add to that culture that was starting to mature, I guess, around here. To be another part of that would be, we thought it would be really fun. And to put our own little stamp to be part of the culture would be amazing. And we got we got offered this place, and it was a shell. It wasa, like a bric-a-brac antiques storage facility. We got offered this place and did not know what we were getting ourselves in for at all, but jumped in head first and thought, well, we've got this opportunity. It being a shell is obviously very daunting, but at the same time, it's gives you the opportunity to make it money permitting exactly how you want it to be. So, and as I say, then we started going through the archives and all that kind of stuff. And it's like, wow, it's to try and see things are shifting around here. We're seeing that with Cannon Brewery, which is behind me, which is why I'm pointing this way. Cannon Brewery is set for redevelopment. Planning permission was passed 8 weeks ago, something like that. So we might see that starting to change really soon. I hope we do. It's not a residential place yet, Neepsend. It's not a particularly residential part of the city. But to be here and see that transformation, there used to be a lot of community here in terms of residential, and there's not so much now. If we can be here as we see some of that return, would be it would just be amazing. Philippa Willitts Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. What can people expect if they pop down for a Sunday roast or pop down for a pint? Tom Miller Yeah. So sitting where I'm exactly sitting now, when it was a building site, we were doing head chef interviews, sat on bags of cement, and we had Jim, who is now our head chef. So he got the job. He came in for an interview, and we sat and we talked for about 2 hours about food. I'm a massive foodie, as is my brother. That's why we started doing street food stuff. When you find someone else who is this as passionate, or if not more passionate about than ourselves about food, it's a lot of fun. One of the questions in the interview is what makes a good Sunday roast in your opinion? What makes a good Sunday roast is a great question to ask us. And we sat and spoke about it for a long, long time. And that's become the cornerstone of our Sunday menu. So we're really proud of our Sunday menu. I've got m
