Sheffield, a bed of white roses?

Photo by Isyria
Photo by Isyria

After reading Phil Kirby’s article about Leed’s and its development, many of the comments put Sheffield in a surprisingly favourable light. It made me feel quite proud to be a Sheffielder and also left me pondering whether our city deserves such esteem?

I’ve lived in Sheffield for 17 years and in that time our cityscape has certainly seen monumental change. When I first took my student feet down the main drag on West Street, it was a ghost town. Beautiful buildings such as Tiger Works lay derelict, a sad vestige of a bygone era. The town hall extension, not so affectionately known as The Egg Box, was razed to the ground and The Hole in the Road, though well loved by many, got the necessary filling in. Then in 1990 came Meadowhell. If German bombers hadn’t been enough to blast the life out of our city centre during the Second World War, this almost did. Hopefully, we learnt a few lessons from the retail metropolis as it tickled the M1 like an irritating ulcer.

I worked in Parkhill Flats in 2000, as part of the cultural and social experiment that has been the dispersal of asylum seekers. Despite the excitement of weekly drug raids, even then I got a glimpse of why this crumbling, concrete monster had once dreamed, like Le Corbusier, of being the answer to our post-war housing problems. And it gave me a buzz.

But despite a reputation for iconic carbuncles, that’s not the full story. It’s more complicated and certainly less concrete. For as long as I’ve lived here, Sheffield’s been known as the largest village in England. I can’t totally put my finger on why, but it’s about an attitude – a collective sense of identity, community and our DIY ethic, as fellow blogger Joanne Mateer calls it. It’s also something that’s reflected in our brave, albeit sometimes misplaced attempts at regeneration.

Sheffield seems to have a pride, even affection for its streets, warts n’all, which makes the beauty of living in this city most certainly not skin deep. For example, thousands of Sheffielders stayed late into the night two years ago to witness the destruction of the Tinsley cooling towers, as if clinging to two beloved parents who were being battered to their knees. Although as an incomer I was initially baffled, I now realise it’s all about a sense of belonging and creativity in unexpected places.

Today, step off the train and if you’ve not visited the city for a while you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d got off at the wrong stop. Sheaf Square’s steel blade, fountains and blue light guide you past an Andrew Motion poem on the side of Sheffield Hallam University and lead to the Peace Gardens. Go there on a summer’s day and you’ll find kids from every corner of the city, whooping with delight as they race through the fountains. It’s our very own Sheffield-by-the-Sea. We now have a super supertram which links at least some of us to the city’s beating heart. It’s not a perfect route, nor was it a perfect construction, but heck, you can ride all day between Herdings Park and Hillsborough for £2.50.

Yes, I worry that Division Street and Eccesall Road are both morphing into some kind of hairspray boulevard, as independent retailers can no longer afford the rent; the area around Kelham Island is far from reaching its vision of being a new Barcelona and we’ve clearly got our fair share of socio-economic problems as the divide between the north east and south west continues grow. On top of that, Sheffield must have been the last of the major UK cities to get a taste of regeneration, by which time it was too darn late. Parkhill and The Moor redevelopments both cast a ghoulish shadow across our skyline, when work ground to halt. But look closer at The Moor’s hoardings and you’ll find 600 haikus written by Sheffield’s children, showing that even when are our hopes and aspirations lie in the rubble, we dare to imagine and create.

So you see, it’s not a bed of white roses down here, any more than it is out west. We have always been the poor relation to Leeds and Manchester who have fought to be the North’s commercial and financial centres. Consequently, when we do have something, anything, we value it. We have a carefully planned Cultural Industries Quarter, a Devonshire Quarter and maybe one day, more retail quarters but most importantly we know where our heart is. And it’s when Sheffield’s heart connects to its roots, by roots I mean our communities and our green spaces as well as our heritage, we flourish as well as survive.

View from Sheffield Train Station by Dan Sumption (danshotme.com)
View from Sheffield Train Station by Dan Sumption (danshotme.com)

30 comments

  1. I hate the steel blade (known, I believe, as The Cutting Edge) not for any aesthetic reason, nor for its ‘steelness’ representing our beloved Sheffield’s steel history, but because its construction was outsourced to Bristol. I mean, FFS…

  2. Background can be found here (http://underclassrising.net/reports/parkhill.html)with some images from past mooching around. The grand old Lady in her new frock, she is looking somewhat wonder full and when our lass puts on her make up and gets dressed for a night out, then i understand why we fell in love with her, in her transition Park Hill beguiles us.

    Bet she will look good on’t dance floor, as Sheffield gets a make over, at Bank Street Arts Berris Conolly (http://berrisconolly.com/index.html)is reminding us of the last big change, from the mid 1988 one man his camera caught Sheffield in transition. The images are truly wonderful, Sheffield Photographs 1988-2010 runs Aug 21 at Bank Street Arts 32-40 Bank Street Sheffield, so we was done there we thought a wander round Park Hill.

    There has been some controversy over the listings, and in the last year, the doubts have risen though we supported the listing we began to ponder was it wise and as she took off her dressing gown of scaffold, the colour blighted our eyes.

    Oh, how can that be – Tha knows it’s Park Hill, in’t it? Urban Splash are bringing this grand lady back to life, she is all tarted up though she does not look the same, but that is not the point, here will stand a grand example of Brutalist Architecture. Now, those who doubted the trust given to Urban Splash and the former Labour administration over this project might need to put their hand over their gobs and shout full up and eat their words, i know we are.

    We have become all excited, now we just need to let it be, that’s her past and forgiveness is hard, we agree. Though she has trespassed against the people of Sheffield, it is not just the fault of Park Hill, yes love might be blind and seeing her in her new dress we begin to understand why we fell in love with her..

    http://underclassrising.net/reports/

    1. Mozaz, I’ve been looking through the images on your website. I see you have a good eye for Sheffield. Thank you for sharing.

  3. It wasn’t only Sheffielder’s who stayed up to watch the grotesque act of civic vandalism that was the demolition of the Tinsley Towers. I spent a lot of my early adulthood up and down the M1 and the Towers were an iconic symbol of the North; you knew you were back home when you went by those couple of big friendly giants. There was no excuse to knock them down, just sheer corporate insanity.

    I love the steel blade (though why the hell was it made in Bristol?) but can’t bear that Andrew Motion thing . . . it’s so lame, so monumentally dull, so unspeakably pointless . . . I envy you the trams though.

    1. The Andrew Motion thing is horrendous, but not as appalling, patronising and unpoetic as the Ian McMillan poem that accompanies the blade. The use of water across the city centre speaks a lot more eloquently to me than the plodding guff he wrote.

      1. Penny, That’s The Bard of Barnsley FC you’re talking about there. They’ll be racing up the M1 firing rhyming couplets at you, if you’re not careful!

    2. Thanks Phil and Mea Tulpa. A quick Google and I still can’t see if there is a legitimate reason why the blade was fashioned in Bristol…so a bizarre contradiction for something that is supposed to symbolise Sheffield’s craftsmanship and heritage. Still it’s a pretty awesome site!

      As for the Andrew Motion poem, I guess you could say the same, what’s wrong with words from our home grown wordsmiths? For example, a little something from Sheffield Hallam’s own Marina Lewycka (who wrote A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian) or the late Archie Markham, their very own Prof of Creative Writing.

      Justine sums it up well below.

  4. I agree. But I think one mistake that we seem to make time and time again, is trying to consciously replicate the identity of other cities without recognising we actually already have one – not least, our rich cultural music heritage.

    I wonder what it is about us that we can’t we just let kelham island be… kelham island? Why must it be the Barcelona of the North? Why can’t it be what it is… the best cluster of real boozers in Sheffield…A vibrant place of half-used industrial factories and workshops with willow trees dangling into the Don, with the sounds of real work… panel beaters, next to budget musicians studios, with artist studios downstairs, a man who mends photocopiers shoulder-to-shoulder with a small start up social businesses upstairs.

    We’ve got the grander side of cultural spaces equal any in Leeds and Manchester – wonderful new developments like Bank Streets Art, Butcher Works, The Chimney House; but equally, there’s the creative DIY side that’s happening all around Sheffield (bloc being a great example of an individual’s vision and South Yorkshire graft) and yes, in places like Kelham Island.

    These ad-choc happenings prove you don’t have to rely on European handouts to make things happen. And that we’ve never needed a grand, city-wide vision from above to dictate our future to us. Just individuals with messy dreams, quietly getting on with their stuff and helping support others with theirs.

    Sheffield has long realized the return to a cottage industry, a co-operative-style cultural movement and a bubbling hot pot of sole traders, moving away from the traditional model of success of being big business with huge turnovers and headcounts and slaves to the service industries.

    We’ve always known that small is beautiful. And that we don’t have to rule the world to make our mark on it.

    Sheffield’s culture is all about having a stab at making our own.

    1. Beautiful said our Juz.

      It was probably some nutter who’d drunk the same loopy juice as Will Alsop (the bloke who was going to turn Barnsley into a Tuscan Village) that thought of turning Kelham Island into the Barcelona of the North. As I say, it’s when we connect to our roots, that we flourish and Sheffield’s were never in Catalunya, even if we do share a similar regional pride.

  5. I love Sheffield – with its digital campus and winter gardens…its Apple Store and the much-missed cooling towers (as well as the £250k investment from SYIF I got in 2007!).

    But what did I get for my love?

    The multi-resigning, wife-stealing, privacy-dismantling, freedom-supressing David Blunkett in the 90s and the electorally duplicitous “I’m With” Nick Clegg in the noughties 😉

    So Fuck Sheffield I say! 😉

  6. As someone who was born and bred in Sheffield and lived there til about 3 years ago I have a great love and pride in the place. I like the fact that it’s been re-generated but I still miss the old Sheffield of old mens pubs, popping down the ‘cliff for a curry and looking at the fish in the ole in’t road (rumour is they’re still down there)

    Part of the charm and individuality of Sheffield for me stretches back to my childhood when the city stood up for itself unlike other northern towns I could mention. For Imran’s comments about Sheffield politicians (Clegg aside) in the 80’s while Thatcher made us all greedy Sheffield stood up and was counted. It’s not for nothing that the city was known as the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire, from the 2p busses to the stance against nuclear weapons and the support of the miners strike.

    I just hope it’s keeping it’s identity in more than it’s people it would be a real shame if it became a bland corporate wasteland just like everywhere else.

    1. I’m only being cheeky – don’t take my comments seriously…though Blunkett’s legacy in dismantling long-held freedoms may sadly cast a longer shadow than any 80s socialism.

  7. well, here’s my two pence…

    i grew up in sheffield, but my parents live in vancouver, and san francisco (with family in hong kong). then went to leeds for university, then to london for 8 years. and have been to quite a few places around the world, from new york to mongolia, marrakesh to stockholm, and beijing to berlin.

    and when it was time to decide where to ‘settle’ and set up my own agency, i choose sheffield above the rest. can’t remember why, but…

    i think sheffield, like all places, has it’s pros and cons, though i prefer to focus on the pros.

    i like it for the ‘quality of life’; that the vast number of people who choose to call this city ‘home’ are creative-minded, liberal-thinking, and community-focused. this is reflected in the city’s DIY approach to things which helps keep the city ‘independent’.

    i could go on, but we don’t want sheffield to become too popular/mainstream/commercial (and another leeds!!! sorry…)

    1. I’m with you on the quality of life aspect Ben. It’s got what I’d call a healthy mix of city and space. It was only when I once landed a job elsewhere that I realised that Sheffield was under my skin.

    2. You chose Sheffield over San Francisco, Vancouver, or Stockholm? Sorry man, I love much about this city but it’s pretty third rate compared to those places (New York is shit though so well done for not going there)

  8. Like any city, Sheffield has good points and bad points but for me overall it comes out on the plus side – unlike any other city in England.

    That’s because its the least city-like city in terms of urban architecture.

    I have usually got quite twitchy after a few days in cities like London, Glasgow, Manchester and Leeds – a sort of urban claustrophobia from being hemmed in by high-rise buildings with no ‘view out beyond’.

    Sheffield’s hills, radial parks and lower density buildings give plenty of places to look beyond the other side of the street, to see more than just concrete or bricks rising above cars nudging each other for some room on the tarmac. It is a city where I feel I can visually breathe.

    I think this is one of the important factors that contribute to the village feel.

    My worries is that the regeneration may result in Sheffield just being Anyotherbuiltupcity in England. I hope its core character is not lost under piles of concrete and steel. Parts of the centre have already been transformed but we are still a long way from losing the open views.

    I think Sheaf Square is the best city welcome to people arriving by train of anywhere in England. The one good thing that the council has implemented during the regeneration, as a result of developers’ cross-compliance requirements, are the new public spaces which feature a suite of similar designs and plenty of water.

    But the Barcelona of the North? Give it a rest. Highlight what is good about the Kelham Island area and promote it as such. A friend once coined a phrase for the area of real ale pubs from the New Barrack Tavern in Hillsborough to the Fat Cat on Kelham Island via the Gardener’s Rest, Hallamshire Hotel, Bottom Welly, etc, etc.

    He called this the VALE OF ALE. How about that instead of the Barcelona of the North?

    1. Thanks Bill. The Vale of Ale and other references to Sheffield’s traditional boozers have come up as common thread in these comments. It’s reminded me that Sheffield’s real ale pubs have been a heart warming and focal part of my experience too. They’re another fine example of Sheffield being connected to its roots. There used to be stacks within stumbling distances of my house, all like an extension of my sitting room – The Blake, The Belleview, The Hillsborough, The Bath. I’ll be gutted if they continue being forced to close their doors.

      **** Bring back the Sheffield pub!****

  9. Fantastic article Lucy and some smashing, detailed comments too. This entire page demonstrates the potential and general marvellousness of blogging done properly.

    Anyway, as for Sheffield. We are a dual-beast, forever getting tangled in our own ambition. But we do have ambition. And much else besides. We just need to point it in the right direction sometimes.

    I’ve lived here for more than a decade, and yet there’ still so much to explore. Still so much to learn. I never hear friends who live in other cities saying that.

    1. I’m gone pink with pride. That’s praise indeed from the author of Write for your Life, the focus of my blog envy. Muchas gracias compadre!

  10. I’ve only lived in Sheffield for about 18 months and had only visited the city for a couple of weeknd stays before taking the plunge. That’s all it took though and when a job opportunity came up I did not hesitate.

    Having grown up in an actual village it’s ironic that what is usually thought of as the village atmosphere is one I experience more in Sheffield than in Bedfordshire. The people of this city are amongst the most open I have ever met and I’ve moved around a lot in my time.

    It’s certainly not perfect – I have been to Meadowhell once, I managed 20 minutes before I had to find the nearest exit and take deep breathes – but it’s the people that make the place and the people are warm and wonderful. As all villagers should be!

  11. Warm memories indeed.
    There is something intangible about Sheffield’s heart. I remember when I first set foot in Sheffield 20 years ago (eeek!). I arrived by train and hopped on a bus up to the Uni for my interview. An elderly lady beamed up at me from one of the seats and shuffled over saying “Hello love, sit your sen down here”. Which was, to say the least, refreshing after living in the indifferent anonymity of London.
    My husband and I still miss Sheffield and it’s colourful mix of folk. At that time, it wasn’t the new shiny structures, gardens, galleries or the olympic pool that drew us to the place, but that elusive heart that pulsed in the comedy nights, the music, the pubs, the climbing walls and the day to day people of the buses. Not to mention Beanies!

    1. Don’t get me started on Beanies, the only shopping experience I actually enjoy. Retail in Sheffield could learn a lot from that bunch of Beansters – local, fresh, friendly. Why does something so simple elude so many others.

      1. Well ….. Beanies are also smug middle-class, self-satisfied and expensive.

        Not much I’d want other traders to learn from that.

  12. Hey, you used to write magnificent, but the last few posts have been kinda boring… I miss your super writings. Past several posts are just a little bit out of track! come on!

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