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FARGATE in Sheffield City Centre


Sheffield History

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4 hours ago, Sheffield History said:

 


The sooner it becomes cafes and residential the better

The where do we shop then?

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On 08/03/2021 at 09:08, Sheffield History said:

 


The sooner it becomes cafes and residential the better

Why? Or are you joking?

 

Do some people live in the upper storeys?

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To answer both toxin and Athy, you can and will be able to shop at M&S and yes upper floors that were offices are gradually being converted to apartments, the guys who do/will reside in them will need to get out for a bite to eat, so I agree totally with SH, how’s about that for a bit of creeping to the gaffer?

😇

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1 hour ago, Athy said:

Why? Or are you joking?

Do some people live in the upper storeys?


The plan is for Fargate to move to residential, cafes, leisure
Apartments on the upper levels yeah
Quite right too - high street shops are a thing of the past pretty much now due to the internet and Meadowhall 
Time to move Sheffield forward

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On 08/03/2021 at 13:19, tozzin said:

The where do we shop then?

If people shopped on Fargate the shops wouldn't all be shut down!

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 The young professionals and students that will become the city centre’s residents will use M&S if it adapts to their needs and requirements, no more office staff rapid shopping in their lunch break, more like leisurely early evening browsing/shopping, maybe a bite to eat in their cafe, more like a ready meal if they are anything like me when I was their age. And just think, they won’t have anywhere to park a car so will do without one and stay close to base.
 

Folk used to live in what we now know as the city centre for centuries, why is is so difficult to accept that it is about to return to form? I’ve personally not set foot in the city centre for three or four years, and that was to visit our family solicitors office, and got out of it as quickly as I could manage when he’d finished attempting to send me to sleep.

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1 hour ago, Sheffield History said:

If people shopped on Fargate the shops wouldn't all be shut down!

That was my point.

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I think it's a double edge sword having Sheffield turned into a student paradise. I suspect the shops closed down due to the population being largely students. The increase in the School Leaving age to 18, also meant those that were working are no longer doing so. And the cost of education is being paid for by tax payers and the students themselves. With long term loans for jobs that are not there. Spending a great deal at work just to pay back the student loan when they do get the job. The upside is that Sheffield can still pay tax due to the population not falling down drastically and it would have done without the Education factor.  Turning Fargate into a green area and concerts is ideal for students, but it doesn't create a healthy city and will not do anything for jobs.

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I’ve always held the view that Meadowhall was the start of the demise of Fargate and the Moor, after all free car parking and all the shops are there that were in the town centre. I went in M & S today on Fargate and the mens department was bereft of goods the floor was so bare you could hold a football match there, I can see this store closing.

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Back in the days of the planning of Meadowhall the factor that encouraged new shopping and supermarkets was the price of land. The owners of the land could sell the land to a developer for a huge amount of money if you built a Supermarket on it. Cleared (none green space) land was worth next to nothing if you put homes on it. Not much more if you put industrial units on it. I suspect office space was worth a bit, judging by the amount that Sheffield has. But you could probably get a million per acre for a supermarket. 

Of course that has now changed and it looks like the money is on redevelopment schemes. Especially as the government likes to spend cash on "solve it" schemes. 

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7 hours ago, History dude said:

Back in the days of the planning of Meadowhall the factor that encouraged new shopping and supermarkets was the price of land. The owners of the land could sell the land to a developer for a huge amount of money if you built a Supermarket on it. Cleared (none green space) land was worth next to nothing if you put homes on it. Not much more if you put industrial units on it. I suspect office space was worth a bit, judging by the amount that Sheffield has. But you could probably get a million per acre for a supermarket. 

Of course that has now changed and it looks like the money is on redevelopment schemes. Especially as the government likes to spend cash on "solve it" schemes. 

I can’t really go into the whys and wherefores, Meadowhall started the demise of shopping  in Sheffield.

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One simple advantage , for some, of Meadowhall over a trip to town was the ease of free car parking and the avoidance of weather.🤨

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2 minutes ago, Lysanderix said:

One simple advantage , for some, of Meadowhall over a trip to town was the ease of free car parking and the avoidance of weather.🤨

Shoppers had put up with the weather and no parking as many people just could not afford a car, then suddenly the weather annoyed them and they had a car. My parents and grand-parents I know wouldn’t have entertained Meadowhall, I have been once even though I worked just a few hundred yards away from it and saw the rise of the building on a daily basis.

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On 08/03/2021 at 09:08, Sheffield History said:

 


The sooner it becomes cafes and residential the better

I keep wondering why some contributors spend so much time on the History Forum when it's clear that they don't like old Sheffield and seem to love all the latest modernisation.

I find modern Sheffield a lifeless city centre and nothing like the bustling place that I used to love.

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8 minutes ago, Organgrinder said:

I keep wondering why some contributors spend so much time on the History Forum when it's clear that they don't like old Sheffield and seem to love all the latest modernisation.

 

A love for and appreciation of the past doesn't necessarily preclude a realistic view of the present and future.

   I love steam trains but I can see the practical advantages of modern diesel and electric ones. I love canals (and indeed own a narrowboat) but I realise that they could not be a principal means of commercial transport, as they once were.

 

Actually I'm not so sure about the modern trains.....

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For me the problem Fargate had was it's image. I always saw it has the posher end of town and shop prices tended to reflect this. The Moor and Market (old one) were the rougher end of shopping.  Maybe it was the bank's and building societies along it that attracted the richer people to spend there. Working class families had little need for banks etc in the 50's, 60's and 70's.  I tended to use shops like W.H. Smith only at Christmas time for the books, but things like books in the 70's were not really cheap anywhere.

The thing I miss about going to town is the Charity shops, but the expense of getting to town from where I live just doesn't cover savings from them. 

Meadowhall also has good public transport links, so it's not just car people going there. I suspect the largest number of people there are using buses and trams, or were in the past.

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Does anyone remember Spalls fancy goods shop ? They were or are known at seaside resorts but changing times saw this shop close.

AB8AC175-C687-471E-8D1C-283B5869C08E.jpeg

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8 hours ago, boginspro said:

This is my favourite Fargate picture from Picture Sheffield. That's my idea of a great city centre though I expect many "modern thinking" people would disagree.

https://picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?action=printdetails&keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;s00257&prevUrl=

fargate_1937.jpg

It’s alive, I love this photo of just how Sheffield was a thriving city.

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Some twenty or so years ago I looked at the 1881 census return which showed the upper floors of the Coles building were used to house the staff.

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18 hours ago, Hopman said:

Some twenty or so years ago I looked at the 1881 census return which showed the upper floors of the Coles building were used to house the staff.

A quite common practice, I think, amongst hotels (and probably still is); but did many big shops do this?

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There are still lots of shops in Sheffield, but they are not located in the City Centre. For example Sheffield still has several model railway shops, which I might had is not common in other places! Rails of Sheffield recently expanded their Heeley store. I suppose like many shops that have specialist items to sell they like the lower rentals and rates of the suburbs. Though some property owners can get a little greedy with rents there. When I was on the Manor a lot of shops were often changing due to landlord putting up rents.

The building site approach of the current City will not help trade. If you can't get somewhere or it takes you ages to park. You will not go shopping there. I remember a lot of business loss money due to the construction and disruption of the Supertram system.  

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