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Moorfoot in Sheffield City Centre


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Moorfoot.jpg

 


Can someone please tell me what Moorfoot was like in the 1960's and 1970's?

These days it's like a ghost town - has it always been that way?

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No it wasn't a 'ghost town'. The problem is the Manpowers Services building (or whatever it is called now) that was built straight across the bottom of the Moor cutting off direct access from the Moor to London Road. There was supposed to be foot access via an arch beneath the building which is still there, I believe, but has always been blocked.

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Yeah it's definitely bookended The Moor hasn't it.
What a shame and no sign of it going away either sadly

I think there are plans to revitalise Moorfoot into some kind of LGBT community area with bars etc

Just seems to me to have been pretty dead down there for quite some time now

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The flow of traffic down the Moor prior to the horrible changes was ok, not everyone is a lover of pedestrianisation and I'm one of them.

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The Moorfoot building, pedestrianisation , the expense of car parking, the removal of the free bus service added to the slow move away from the Moor as a shopping area have all contributed to its current state...and, of course, Meadowhell hasn't helped.

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Bought my first posh suit ( hand stitched lapels) on the Moor in 1968, got it from Isadore Newman's.

Can't remember exactly where the shop was though, seem to think it was a prefab type building located at the bottom end of the Moor.

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55 minutes ago, southside said:

Bought my first posh suit ( hand stitched lapels) on the Moor in 1968, got it from Isadore Newman's.

Can't remember exactly where the shop was though, seem to think it was a prefab type building located at the bottom end of the Moor.

You can see that shop on this post, if you scroll down you have the address and a picture of it.        --------     

 

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2 hours ago, boginspro said:

You can see that shop on this post, if you scroll down you have the address and a picture of it.        --------     

 

Thanks for the link boginspro.  remember it now!  I was working on Cemetery Road at the time, I used to walk up the Moor on my dinner break.

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When did Hudson's Music shop close? And Crane's music shop a bit further up on the corner? I remember them both in the early 80s.

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On 20/05/2018 at 17:43, Arif said:

When did Virgin Records first open down there?

 

Good question

I"m going to have a total stab in the dark here and say about 1990 but could be very wrong

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I think that Woolworths in the film is wrongly positioned. I think that's where British Home Stores was. Woolworths was further up, opposite Debenhams. There was an entrance by the side opposite the Golden Dragon.

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1 hour ago, Hopman said:

I think that Woolworths in the film is wrongly positioned. I think that's where British Home Stores was. Woolworths was further up, opposite Debenhams. There was an entrance by the side opposite the Golden Dragon.

I must admit to not knowing exactly where I was on The Moor at times in this film, so much has changed, but I think this building from the film looks more like the post war Woolies that I remember.  In the 50's it seemed to stand almost on it's own amongst the bomb damage not far from the Crimea Monument at the Moor Head.

woolies.png

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9 hours ago, Hopman said:

I think that Woolworths in the film is wrongly positioned. I think that's where British Home Stores was. Woolworths was further up, opposite Debenhams. There was an entrance by the side opposite the Golden Dragon.

 


yeah I think you're bang on

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On 27/05/2018 at 12:35, Oldbloke said:

Virgin appears to have opened at 137 The Moor in 1973! Where does the time go?

 

 

Really? That's a real shocker to me as I don't even remember it being on the Moor at all ha ha!

I always thought Virgin was an 80's thing

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Looking down The Moor it has certainly changed from the 50's, I wonder how many times some of the buildings have been rebuilt since then. This is 31st May 1953, a Sunday, with the Woolies building which I remember thinking looked so big. It doesn't look big compared to some of the buildings that have sprung up since and the building in the film looks like it could possibly be the same front.         ----------------           (C) Picture Sheffield      -----------       http://picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;y01299&pos=10&action=zoom&id=48386 

woolies_Sunday_30th_may_1953.jpg

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It was Council planning policy for all re/new builds on the Moor to be faced with Portland stone and to be of a certain uniform height( 3 stories?)...hence the false frontage ...illustrated quite clearly. 

What a dreary place was the Moor, post War and the hoarding advertising. "Andrews Liver Salts for inner cleanliness" brings back memories of weekly " have you taken your Andrews?...." from a doting grandmother!

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On 30/05/2018 at 09:00, lysander said:

It was Council planning policy for all re/new builds on the Moor to be faced with Portland stone and to be of a certain uniform height( 3 stories?)...hence the false frontage ...illustrated quite clearly. 

What a dreary place was the Moor, post War and the hoarding advertising. "Andrews Liver Salts for inner cleanliness" brings back memories of weekly " have you taken your Andrews?...." from a doting grandmother!

Thanks for that information, that explains a lot about that building and others. I am not sure I agree that it was a dreary place, on shopping days it was still very busy and we would never fail to go in Woolies. Perhaps it shows my age but we have a container of Andrews Liver Salts in the cupboard. (  I  am still the lad in our family, but the oldest at the moment is 100 ) 

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The 1950's photo certainly made the place look dreary...although I agree with you it was a bustling place... Coming from the North of Sheffield our shopping trips usually began at the old Markets and stopped around about the Town Hall!

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On 29/05/2018 at 07:43, Sheffield History said:

They sold records out of cardboard boxes and there were listening booths, You took a record to the counter and he or she put the record on for you. You returned to your booth put on a set of headphones and listened to the record!

 

Really? That's a real shocker to me as I don't even remember it being on the Moor at all ha ha!

I always thought Virgin was an 80's thing

 

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Sheffield Council Planning Department want shooting for what they've done to The Moorfoot. I grew up in a little house just across the road from The S & E Co-op or The Arcade as it was known as. The 50s and the 60s it was a vibrant and bustling area from the town hall all the way down. It's an absolute crime and I could weep when I see what it's like today.

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For many years we used to have our Cycling Club Dinner dances and prize presentation in the S&E Co op restaurant on the top floor.

The 1968 picture shows the Lord Mayor as chief guest admiring the club's trophies.

Trophies 1968.jpg

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