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Does this scene look familiar to you? (Sheffield in the 1970's)


Sheffield History

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4 minutes ago, Sheffield History said:

Screenshot 2021-04-10 at 17.28.34.jpg

Commercial Street during the wrecking of Sheaf Street and Broad Street.

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I remember waiting in the shelters on the opposite side for the 95 Intake bus on Saturday Afternoon's to go home after shopping in town, with my mum. They used to get quite packed with people. 

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7 hours ago, History dude said:

I remember waiting in the shelters on the opposite side for the 95 Intake bus on Saturday Afternoon's to go home after shopping in town, with my mum. They used to get quite packed with people. 

I used to like those tram / bus shelters as I did the old ones on Pinstone Street, it’s beyond me why such an ideal shelter was demolished.

40E44BA7-7CAC-47D1-BE11-F5C28829DD98.jpeg

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Those shelters were a blessed relief in December after Christmas shopping in the rain and slush.  Waiting for a number 24 (Millhouses), 17 (Dobcroft Rd) or 45 (Totley, IIRC) any one of which would get us back to the warmth of home.  It used to puzzle me why Mum bought "one and to halves" for her, my brother and myself - to my childish mind that equaled two, particularly since bro and I had to share one seat.

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Vandalism would be the cause of the removal of most old shelters. A few have survived in places that don't get the troublemakers that would wreck City Centre ones. Bus shelters these days have to be safe and if they are attacked the structure needs to be replaced with ease.  Those old ones would have been filled with glass that could have lead to some horrible injuries if they were crashed into and when they were vandalised. 

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2 minutes ago, History dude said:

Vandalism would be the cause of the removal of most old shelters. A few have survived in places that don't get the troublemakers that would wreck City Centre ones. Bus shelters these days have to be safe and if they are attacked the structure needs to be replaced with ease.  Those old ones would have been filled with glass that could have lead to some horrible injuries if they were crashed into and when they were vandalised. 

I can never ever remember any kind of vandalism in the Pinstone Street shelter, no graffiti, the roof was secure no lead just honest to goodness putty, it was removed because they, the council, could.

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In some instances things like that were removed because they looked old fashioned. Many shelters were put in for the old Tram system, they got adapted for use of buses. Sheffield Council in the 70's was all about making things look good, getting rid of Victorian and Edwardian Sheffield, which was seen as dirty and unclean. And of course the councillors tended to have interests in putting in the new "stuff". 

Many times various departments were simply spending some money that was left in the budget, before the new budget was set. Each department had to basically show they had spent or allocated the money for the previous years, or the Council's Treasury Department wouldn't have given them the same money with an inflation increase! So old bus shelters might have come under the Highways Department and to get rid of cash, the removal of old bus shelters might have been the way they did it. So the Pinstone Street Shelter got demolished and the Highways budget for next year was not cut.  Of course I'm not saying that's what happened, but I have seen things like that happen.  

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9 hours ago, History dude said:

In some instances things like that were removed because they looked old fashioned. Many shelters were put in for the old Tram system, they got adapted for use of buses. Sheffield Council in the 70's was all about making things look good, getting rid of Victorian and Edwardian Sheffield, which was seen as dirty and unclean. And of course the councillors tended to have interests in putting in the new "stuff". 

Many times various departments were simply spending some money that was left in the budget, before the new budget was set. Each department had to basically show they had spent or allocated the money for the previous years, or the Council's Treasury Department wouldn't have given them the same money with an inflation increase! So old bus shelters might have come under the Highways Department and to get rid of cash, the removal of old bus shelters might have been the way they did it. So the Pinstone Street Shelter got demolished and the Highways budget for next year was not cut.  Of course I'm not saying that's what happened, but I have seen things like that happen.  

I can believe that, they were just putting their name on these projects, for future c.v.s, the present clowns in the big top they call the Town Hall, cannot stop littering, vandalism and worse of all graffiti but they can quite happily brag about the improvements to the city, I.e. closing streets to traffic in favour of cycles.

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Bus shelters, stops etc. were always the responsibility of the transport department, not the highways dept. I think the shelter on Pinstone Street went in the mid 70's, so possibly responsibility had been transferred to SYPTE by that time.

You are right about the budgets though, with the financial year starting in April, I always had to keep some funds in reserve for late Winter issues, so some planned work had to be held back until the last minute and then it became a rush to spend it or we would have our budget cut for the following year. We didn't like it either, but that's how the treasury wanted it.

Nigel L

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Civil service had similar rules in the past.  At work we might get a sudden "underspend" becoming available in March.  Fortunately our suppliers were aware of the system and had methods to ensure goods were delivered and signed for by April.

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On 11/04/2021 at 10:18, MartinR said:

Those shelters were a blessed relief in December after Christmas shopping in the rain and slush.  Waiting for a number 24 (Millhouses), 17 (Dobcroft Rd) or 45 (Totley, IIRC) any one of which would get us back to the warmth of home.  It used to puzzle me why Mum bought "one and to halves" for her, my brother and myself - to my childish mind that equaled two, particularly since bro and I had to share one seat.

I remember as a kid in the 70's getting on the bus with my mum and sister, mum would give me the money to pay the driver, telling me to ask for (if I remember correctly) nine and two halves, yet mine and my sisters ticket only cost 2p.

Years later I asked her why, if her ticket was 9p and mine was 2p, did we have to ask for nine and two halves? She explained that years previous a kids ticket was half the price of an adults, but then adult ticket prices increased.

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On 11/04/2021 at 21:03, History dude said:

In some instances things like that were removed because they looked old fashioned. Many shelters were put in for the old Tram system, they got adapted for use of buses. Sheffield Council in the 70's was all about making things look good, getting rid of Victorian and Edwardian Sheffield, which was seen as dirty and unclean. And of course the councillors tended to have interests in putting in the new "stuff". 

Many times various departments were simply spending some money that was left in the budget, before the new budget was set. Each department had to basically show they had spent or allocated the money for the previous years, or the Council's Treasury Department wouldn't have given them the same money with an inflation increase! So old bus shelters might have come under the Highways Department and to get rid of cash, the removal of old bus shelters might have been the way they did it. So the Pinstone Street Shelter got demolished and the Highways budget for next year was not cut.  Of course I'm not saying that's what happened, but I have seen things like that happen.  

When I worked in office furniture industry during the late 80's and 90's I remember March being a busy time with local governments all rushing to spend any remaining budget, before the new budget was awarded in April. Any money they hadn't spent would be lost and deducted from the forthcoming budget, so they had to spend it.

They would place orders around mid March but needed the invoice quickly (before April) as the money had to be spent before then. Often they would pay in full before receiving delivery, just to get the money spent.

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On 13/04/2021 at 15:24, ajsimp said:

The bottom of Commercial Street is where it all began, the site of the first Sheffield settlers.

They were probably attracted by the roundabout, giving them easy access to the Parkway 😀

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Just now, LeadFarmer said:

They were probably attracted by the roundabout, giving them easy access to the Parkway 😀

Ooooh it’s not a roundabout it’s deemed a Square ?.. 😊😊😊

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5 minutes ago, tozzin said:

Ooooh it’s not a roundabout it’s deemed a Square ?.. 😊😊😊

A squareabout?

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It is CommerciaI  Street and I used to work at the YEB many years ago there.  Across the road was the gas company and then down at the bottom the old rag and tag market.

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Ooh, proper Sheffield buses!

I am sure that I remember that particular design of bus on the 52 route in the early 1960s so they must have had long working lives. I don't know who built them, but they looked quite unlike most other members of the fleet.

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I never ever rode any of the trolley buses that went to Rotherham from Exchange Street, anyone had the pleasure?

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That is because it was trams, not trolley buses, that operated from Exchange Street to Rotherham. Here is a picture of the single-ended trams that Rotherham used on the route jointly with Shefffield Corporation.  https://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;p01442&pos=1&action=zoom&id=139598

The Leyland buses referred to by Athy were new in 1957 and worked until 1974, five bodies were built by ECW (Eastern Coach Works) of Lowestoft, originally for the 'Railway-owned' B & C fleets.

 

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16 minutes ago, Voldy said:

That is because it was trams, not trolley buses, that operated from Exchange Street to Rotherham. Here is a picture of the single-ended trams that Rotherham used on the route jointly with Shefffield Corporation.  https://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;p01442&pos=1&action=zoom&id=139598

The Leyland buses referred to by Athy were new in 1957 and worked until 1974, five bodies were built by ECW (Eastern Coach Works) of Lowestoft, originally for the 'Railway-owned' B & C fleets.

 

I can remember big dark blue trolley buses not trams, they had MASSIVE wheels. The trams in the photo is nothing like trolley buses.

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