Public Houses - The Wentworth

Wentworth Arms
The Wentworth was the first civilised place you met upon leaving the railway station. It had a good reputation for the quality of its beers and an easy-going atmosphere, often with the topers playing dominoes or cards in a corner, or perhaps a game of darts. There was always an interesting and well-kept selection of 'real ale' on offer, along with the usual lagers, cider and bottled drinks. It was owned by the Mansfield brewery but an old sign used to read John Smith's. It opened at 2pm in the week.

Landlord Glen retired around the beginning of 2011 after being behind the bar for something like twenty-five years (middle picture, red shirt). He earned a good rest and more liberty in his lifestyle after all those years of commitment. New tenants Geoff (middle-right picture) and his wife took over in May 2011. Geoff was impressed to discover that the cellar is a room the same size as the pub and he thought it would be great if someone could make use of it. It would be a very large room.

As you entered this fine hostelry, there was a spacious main room to the right with a fireplace and jukebox. Straight ahead was the pool room, popular with younger visitors. Near the main door was the comfortable 'snug' room to the left, with TV where a cosy collection of regulars will happily strike up conversation. In fact that was the most-used room. A large function room upstairs was used for weddings, etc.

An old archway to the left of the building has stones worn down at each side, reflecting its use when coaches and horse traffic were common. The building is next to the bus stop for Sheffield-bound buses.

The Wentworth entry
From the Old Inns page:

This was a traditional pub with traditional atmosphere and its heraldic name was from the Earl of Wharncliffe. It was a coaching inn before the days of the railway and there is wear and tear evidence of horse-drawn coach traffic on the left-side stone in the archway, now fenced off due to its conversion into flats. Brook and Co. brewery leased it in December 1899. For an unspecified time, Mr John Brownhill kept the Wentworth, while his son Richard (Dick) kept the Queens Hotel, just down the road. Two other sons had pubs in Wakefield.

After Mr Brownhill died, the Wentworth was kept by his married daughter fanny and her husband Mr Richard Jones, who is listed in Kelly's 1912 Directory. According to the 1930 Penistone Almanack, telegrams to the Wentworth would need to be addressed as 'Foster, Penistone' which suggests that the name of the landlord was Foster. Or possibly not.

During the 1960s until around 1970, it was run by Richard and Rose Masheder, who kept a bulldog. The Wentworth had been a hotel in the 1970s and kept chickens to provide fresh eggs for the guests' breakfasts. John Pierce kept the Wentworth in 1983 when he and five regulars raised £500 by cycling to Cleethorpes in less than 9½ hours, in aid of Barnsley Hospital's Children's Ward. Glen was a later landlord until he retired around the beginning of 2011 after being behind the bar for something like twenty-five years. New tenants Geoff and his wife took over in May 2011 but the pub struggled to continue. It closed in the summer of 2013 and the building was converted into apartments by John Wigfield of Cubley Hall, with new houses built on the rear car park.