Regulars drown sorrows as 'historic' Sheffield pub shuts after 227 years

When the first pints were poured in the Sheffield boozer known today as the Big Gun, George III was on the throne and France was at war with Britain.

The pub counted a cattle and swine market among its neighbours when it opened in 1796 on the Wicker, a street which back then was illuminated each night by oil-burning lamps.

By the 20th Century, the road leading to the city centre had become a bustling thoroughfare where drinkers could choose from about a dozen watering holes.

Today, however, the Big Gun is the last one standing - and it too is now shutting down for good.

"It's an absolute travesty," says Steve Jilks, 60, one of the regulars solemnly supping their last pints before the venue's closure this week.

"It's a proper, proper pub. You just don't find them like this anymore," he adds.

The Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) agrees, listing the Big Gun's interior as of "special national historic interest".

The existing building was constructed in 1900, though there has been a public house on the site for 227 years.

Camra describes the venue as a "two-pubs-in-one surprise package," comprised of a pair of contrasting bars with different frontages. On one side, it notes, there is an L-shaped tap room with original Victorian features including a "rare" draught screen painted bright red. In the adjoining room is a narrow saloon bar with "classy" bench seating and a snug.

But the Big Gun has two key draws beyond its fixtures and fittings, according to Mr Jilks, who has been making the five-mile journey to the pub from his home in Gleadless for a decade.

"It's the best pint of beer you can get anywhere in Sheffield," he says between sips of Stones bitter which he says remind him of "proper 80's Stones" before the beer's production was moved away from Sheffield.

"But it's the people as well, it's such a friendly place," he says.

A sign on the front of the Big Gun declares it to be a "nice pub for nice people".

"It's true. It's the friendliest pub I've been in," confirms Mr Jilks, who says the boozer is sometimes seen as "rough" by "people who judge it without coming in".

He says he has never witnessed a fight here, which he credits to the "strong personalities" of landlords Terry and Julie Turner.

The couple took over the running of the pub 10 years ago, having been drinking here as punters for 40 years before that.

"I just got a phone call from the landlady one day asking if I wanted to run it," recalls Mr Turner. "We said why not, we'll give it ago."

The going was good for a few years after that but custom had been slowing since the closure of nearby Castlegate market in 2013.

"Since Covid it's been absolutely crap," admits Mr Turner, who remembers the Wicker once being a "buzzing place".

The couple, who also have health problems to contend with, say they are ready to move on but will miss the pub.

Mr Turner says: "I'll miss all the customers. I feel for them, they've got nowhere to drink anymore.

"They've been drinking here for years, most of them are 60 upwards - they're not the types who are going to go uptown.

"It upsets me, but it is what it is," he adds, speaking as workmen size up the pub and prepare to remove its fruit machine and pool table.

The pub's owner, a local businessman who bought the premises in 2021, plans to turn it into a pizza takeaway.

Colin Hewitt, another regular who has lived in nearby City Wharf for 17 years, feels this "shouldn't be allowed" and the pub should be protected.

The refuse worker adds: "The fact they're letting it shut and nobody is doing anything about it, I think it's criminal.

"What the hell do you need a pizza place around here for? There are a million of them.

"Hundreds of people that come in this pub regularly, it's part of the community. Once it's gone, it's gone."

Pat Hancock, 54, who is drinking a pint on the next table, says he has come in "to pay last respects".

"They don't make them like this any more, do they? It's a salt of the Earth kind of place," he says.

Mr Hancock, who runs a Facebook page charting Sheffield's lost boozers, reels off a list of pubs that have disappeared from the Wicker in the last 25 years - The Station, The Viaduct, the Bull and Oak, and the Brown Cow among them.

He is quick to add there are plenty of great new venues and thriving traditional pubs in places such as Kelham Island.

"But this is a different breed," he says. "The Wicker, sadly - no longer a place for a drink."

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