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The Hole in the Wall Pub


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Screenshot 2020-06-07 at 15.53.31.jpg

THE HOLE IN THE WALL

LOCATION

Savile Street

INFORMATION

The Wicker Brewery Inn was built around 1850 as the brewey tap for the Wicker Brewery. The brewery was taken over by Birks Lady's Bridge Brewery in 1880 and closed. The pub remained as a Birk's house until they were taken over by Gilmours a few years later.

The brewery was turned over to producing vinegar and eventually demolished.

The name was changed to The Hole in the Wall during the 1970s, but closed due to its isolation in the 80's.

It did have a fresh lease of life a few years ago when the pop group Beautiful South used it for a promotional photo shoot. They put up signs renaming the pub Beautiful South. The frontage of the pub was suggested for the cover shot of Beautiful South's album: Blue Is The Colour (ten years since). You might still be able to make out that title written on the old pub sign above the window.

The pub has now been demolished.

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A sad sight :(

I seem to recall The Hole in The Wall was a Tetley pub, one year during the Tetley pub hunt we walked from the Wicker down to The Hole in The Wall just to get a stamp on the car...

I probably have the tee shirt somewhere

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PLAYED AGAINST THEM AT POOL.TWAS THE ONLY TIME I EVER WENT THERE. BUT WHEN IT RAINED, WATER WOULD BUILD UP OUTSIDE THE PUB, AND IVE WASHED THERE WINDOWS A FEW TIMES WHEN PASSING IN THE BUS.

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graham c I assume you were a driver for SYPTE? Can I ask which route you worked?

Sheffield had the very best public transport in England until deregulation in 1982, sad days indeed. Maybe I should start yet another thread ;)

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ONLY WORKED FOR SYPT FOR A SHORT TIME BEFORE IT BECAME MAINLINE, AND NOW FIRST GROUP UH. STARTED ON EAGER BEAVERS. WAS ON 52s FOR 15 YEARS. DEVIL FOR PUNISHMENT. I AGREE ABOUT THE BEST SYSTEM BEFORE DEREGULATION.

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I only went in once. I had been invited to a birthday bash in 1985 and it was there we were asked to meet before moving down Wicker. I remember the landlady introducing herself as Pandora. We only had a couple of drinks but the atmosphere was OK, as were the customers.

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Guest daveyboy66

My mum worked behind the bar during the seventies and me and both of mybrothers used to drink in there on a regular basis.

We had some fantastic lock ins there including on new years party that finished at 7 am at which point we all went to Naaz's for a curry lol

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Can anyone name the artist who did the mural on the wall, he had the old bakery on South Road at Walkley, the one with the Hovis sign outside.

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I remember going in the Hole in The Wall in the early 70's. I think it was a Friday or Saturday night and there was a 'turn' on - a singer. The compere who introduced him gave a him a big build up along the lines of "...and now ladies and gentlemen, I want you to give a warm welcome to ...etc. etc ... he's made his way to be here with us tonight, all the way from --- Rotherham!!" Great stuff. Such a pity the pub has gone and all the characters with it.

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I remember going in the Hole in The Wall in the early 70's. I think it was a Friday or Saturday night and there was a 'turn' on - a singer. The compere who introduced him gave a him a big build up along the lines of "...and now ladies and gentlemen, I want you to give a warm welcome to ...etc. etc ... he's made his way to be here with us tonight, all the way from --- Rotherham!!" Great stuff. Such a pity the pub has gone and all the characters with it.

where was the hole in the wall? <_<

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Here's one to wind up the natives ...

What was "The Hole in the Wall", I don't mean the Pub, or indeed the mural - like looking through a bomb-blast hole out onto a mystery Cityscape ... neither of them. There was a hole, it was part of a Wall - can anyone fill in the details ?

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Hi RichardB Am i close??

The Hole in the Wall" is an early part-talkie, well-directed by Robert Florey but saddled with a plot that Tod Browning might have cooked up for Lon Chaney on a bad day. Several themes beloved of Browning (and often used in Chaney's movies) are prominently used here, including a gang of crooks and phoney mediums, and (shades of "West of Zanzibar") a plot to corrupt an innocent girl in order to get revenge on her parent. The "hole in the wall" in this movie's title is in the crooks' hideout: it's a peephole with a periscope, which the phoney medium uses to spy on her victims, so that she can gain information about them before she meets them, and impress her victims with her "psychic" abilities.

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That is fantastic ! Couldn't imagine anything further from the "truth" lol

Enjoyed reading it, looking forward to other suggestions ... Hope you enjoyed looking, as much as I enjoyed reading it :rolleyes:

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Here's one to wind up the natives ...

What was "The Hole in the Wall", I don't mean the Pub, or indeed the mural - like looking through a bomb-blast hole out onto a mystery Cityscape ... neither of them. There was a hole, it was part of a Wall - can anyone fill in the details ?

A bit further along from the pub, a hole was punched through the Wicker Arches where a German bomb fell straight through it (but thankfully didn't explode), in the 2nd World War. You can still see the patch in the underside of the arch, top right hand side, as you face towards the Wicker. It wasn't a hole in a wall as much as a hole in the arch - so I don't think I've got the right answer, unless I can stretch a point - can I? - and say that it was a hole in the wall of the arch. What I do know for sure is that the pub regulars referred to the Wicker Brewery Inn as the 'ole in't wall long before this became its 'official' name.

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The answer (as I have it, that's not to say it's gospel truth) is :

A) Internal to the building

B) Exceptionally dull

Go for it lol

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The answer (as I have it, that's not to say it's gospel truth) is :

A) Internal to the building

B) Exceptionally dull

Go for it lol

How about - that it was called the hole in the wall because the pub was part of the brewery building itself and and the beer line ran from a barrel inside the brewery, through a hole in the wall, to the pub itself?

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How about - that it was called the hole in the wall because the pub was part of the brewery building itself and and the beer line ran from a barrel inside the brewery, through a hole in the wall, to the pub itself?

Is that called a Brewery Tap?

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Guest breeves

I'm looking for information regarding the Union Forge/ Holdings steelworks which were a little way along Saville Street. The Hole in the Wall was associated with the works before Saville House was built in between them. Any photos or info would be much appreciated. I have posted two other notes in other threads on this site regarding the same, so I apologise if I am repeating myself to anyone. I'm currently writing a publication report on an excavation I did on the site a while back.

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Guest Diz-e-dee

Here's one to wind up the natives ...

What was "The Hole in the Wall", I don't mean the Pub, or indeed the mural - like looking through a bomb-blast hole out onto a mystery Cityscape ... neither of them. There was a hole, it was part of a Wall - can anyone fill in the details ?

Hi RichardB,

I think I might be right in saying that the Hole in the Wall was so named because of the "hole in the wall" oposite the pub. There was a railway sidings or something years ago and futher along, behind the Vauxhall dealers, is a tunnel that leads to the railway line that goes over the Wicker arches. It was a double line tunnel so was obviously quite important, maybe it was used to get the steel onto the other main lines ? Does any body know? My brothers and I used to frighten outselves silly walking through it saying things were waiting to get us in the passing bays :) The worse thing that happened for me in there though was standing on what was left of a HUGE rat (it seemed like it to me anyway). I only had my 'Jesus sandals' on and no socks - Ugh!!!!!

The tunnel was bricked up in the 80's when the site was being developed. With a bit of forward thinking they could have used it for the new ring road :)

Can anyone point me to the thread about the railway tunnel - theres bound to be one somewhere.

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