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A few photos of Sheffield City Centre from today (The Moor/Debenhams)


Sheffield History

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I suppose that's the problem with having a building that is so big and so specialised for the job it was built for. That if the company that built it goes under it becomes an eyesore. I can't see anyone taking it over, so it will probably be another building that gets demolished. 

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There would be nothing wrong with the building (Debenhams) if there were people in it.

I used to work there and it was a lovely place.

Another testament to internet shopping but people will realize how stupid they've been in years to come.

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Sheffield City Centre shopping was in decline before the internet took hold. Bad decisions on transport, the chaos of bus fares, parking charges and places like Crystal Peaks and Meadowhall and out of town superstores saw many shops decline. Leaving only cheap shops around. Then add the Sheffield Market fiasco into it.  Add then the decline in the Sheffield Population as a whole, which has only reversed due to the student numbers. The market place thus responded building or opening things centred on student life. Large department stores that catered for the growing families 60's and 70's were never going to compete once the market had changed to the students. 

It won't be the loss of these buildings people will be concerned in the future. But all the useless student infrastructure that is there, when in the course of time the student market goes under.   

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Leeds, Manchester and even Nottingham have similar student populations, yet their city centres knock ours into a cocked hat and student life / city life can exist and thrive in parallel. I have no idea why our centre has effectively died and yet theirs are all vibrant, progressive and are places I like to visit. I’m almost ashamed to admit that I’d rather jump in my car, or more regularly now on a train, to have a day out in any of those three cities, rather than go “up town”, which always leaves me wondering what the hell happened to ours? Maybe it’s just me that feels this way, but it’s almost heartbreaking to see…. 😢

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Both Leeds and Manchester did much better in the 1970's and 1980's. They also got more government grants than Sheffield and had better rail links. Manchester has railway stations all over the place. Sheffield one!  Conservative governments also slashed the Sheffield Council budgets due to the Socialist link.  Perhaps due to the fact those two cities never had a cheap bus fare policy, so when bus services were slashed than privatised they adjusted well to it. Whereas Sheffield was in chaos from bus privatisation. The student population was much slower growth in Sheffield and it was only in the late 90's did we see more housing for students.

As for Nottingham the last I heard about that was it being one of the worst places to live in the UK.  Though it's not in the top ten currently.  

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Sheffield has never truly recovered from Mrs T and her de_industrialisation policies.As  others have said ,the City was singled out for its socialist thinking. That said, to add to our problems we are not on an electrified rail main line…and our small local airport lasted less than a decade as our Council did precious little to secure it …being bamboozled/hypnotised by the “ opportunities “an airport near Doncaster offered. The promised road links / direct bus service never materialised neither did its routes. Nevertheless,Doncaster has profited from its airport and associated developments whilst we still languish as the only major city without an airport.


The pandemic has left very many of my age group fearful of public transport and of even the smallest of crowds…triple jabbed and masked though we may be. Thus regular trips to town are no longer on the agenda. However, in my opinion ,internet shopping has changed our shopping habits beyond belief….even though in these days of climate awareness the shear waste caused by the number of returns seems quite puzzling.

I still like to see what I buy,!😏

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In a recent survey in the I newspaper ,Sheffield came eighth in the country as the best place to live.( Nottingham was first)Sheffield was consIdered to be the greenest.😁

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2 hours ago, Lysanderix said:

In a recent survey in the I newspaper ,Sheffield came eighth in the country as the best place to live.( Nottingham was first)Sheffield was consIdered to be the greenest.😁

Doesn’t surprise me that Nottingham gets a good ranking, as it’s a nice pedestrianised city centre, with lots of good (quality) shops, cafes, bars, restaurants and easy to get around, in-and-out on their trams, park and ride. My boy was there for four years studying for a Masters in Chemistry and he had lodgings in Lenton. Walking distance to centre, adjacent to ‘The Park’ (smart neighbourhood) and we always liked the city when we visited for the day.

Sheffield was greenest in what respect? Number of trees and green spaces, or environmentally responsible?

Anyway, slightly off topic for Sheffield History, albeit still dismaying that our once great city seems to be going to the dogs…… 😢

 

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These surveys change a lot. Nottingham was on the TV a few years back with appalling crime levels. 

Sheffield was green due to the number of trees for each person who lived there. Though it was probably helped by a few woodlands being left untouched for ages.

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The report was from the University of Southampton and used a number of measures including…..open spaces, number of trees, renewable energy levels, levels of pollution and car use. Sheffield came out as the best whilstWolverhampton came bottom.The report appeared in the Independent yesterday,.

I agree these reports do change a lot but it’s nice to know that Sheffield no longer is at the bottom of most comparative measures(that I have seen) and perhaps it’s about time we started talking up our City and recognising the good things we have….like our clean river….once one of the worlds most polluted, our two universities, our hospitals….yes, and super tram to say nothing of having so much of our town within a national park.

Shopping isn’t everything!☺️

 

 

 

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47 minutes ago, Lysanderix said:

The report was from the University of Southampton and used a number of measures including…..open spaces, number of trees, renewable energy levels, levels of pollution and car use. Sheffield came out as the best whilstWolverhampton came bottom.The report appeared in the Independent yesterday,.

I agree these reports do alter but it’s nice to know that Sheffield no longer is at the bottom of most comparative measures(that I have seen) and it’s about time we started talking up our City and recognising the good things we have….like our clean river….once one of the worlds most polluted, our two universities, our hospitals….yes, and super tram to say nothing of having so much of our town within a national park.

Shopping isn’t everything!

 

 

 

Many good points I agree with there but, after watching the TV report about Britain's water companies polluting rivers and seas, I am not so sure about the state of Sheffield's rivers.

Water companies are doing tests at certain times to ensure they get the best results. This was quite a predictable thing for a private company to do, in my view

My other point is that the Supertram goes hardly anywhere and would need extending massively to make a proper difference in Sheffield's transport strategy.

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I agree that the Supertram system needs extending.However, we do have a system which ,even in a small way ,is reducing atmospheric pollution.The system carries over 10 million passengers(in a normal year-)and covers 21.5 miles.

I am old enough to remember that anyone falling in the Don needed immediate attention (often a stomach pump) so polluted was the river.The river was dead.We now have fish in its waters.

 

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Looking at these photographs of Sheffield I wonder like a lot of people out there, what have the powers that be done to our Sheffield City centre. I haven't been in  town for a few years now and I must say I haven't missed going as there is nothing to encourage me. Lots of the shops are derelict, lots have been demolished and offices or flats have been built.

 

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5 minutes ago, midge said:

Looking at these photographs of Sheffield I wonder like a lot of people out there, what have the powers that be done to our Sheffield City centre. I haven't been in  town for a few years now and I must say I haven't missed going as there is nothing to encourage me. Lots of the shops are derelict, lots have been demolished and offices or flats have been built.

 

 

 

 

 


This video might be of interest
Have a watch - it's how Sheffield is now

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10 hours ago, Organgrinder said:

Many good points I agree with there but, after watching the TV report about Britain's water companies polluting rivers and seas, I am not so sure about the state of Sheffield's rivers.

Water companies are doing tests at certain times to ensure they get the best results. This was quite a predictable thing for a private company to do, in my view

My other point is that the Supertram goes hardly anywhere and would need extending massively to make a proper difference in Sheffield's transport strategy.

I did some research into Water treatment and nearly all domestic sewage can be treated using a system of traps and then a filtration system consisting of the beds you see with a water being sprinkled on them. The beds contain bacteria that break down the sewage and what flows out of the bottom is clean water. However these beds have one problem. The bacteria are killed off by the detergents we flush down our drains. Afterall one claims 99% of all known germs are killed, that would include the helpful ones too! Another thing that effects water quality is the drugs we take. Most of them are not used by the body and are passed out when we go to the toilet. Since much of the water from sewage plants that is cleaned up is passed out via rivers or outflow pipes to the sea. Any such water must therefore have everything in it that is not actioned to be taken out by the water companies. Then there's the coloured pools we see in the street when it rains. Pollution from motor transport, which goes back into the drains and thus needs cleaning out again. Now it's been found that wear from tyres is a major pollution problem with one bus producing a large block of the stuff every journey for example. This goes in the air and in the water supply too.  We really need to look at our City and think are there better ways of living than having what we have. Do we need to clean 12 galleons of drinking water to remove a maximum of 12 fluid ounces of Urine per person? Or the same to remove a less than 250 grams of stools?   

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I recall that 20 or more years ago my son was involved in the installation /development of small sewage systems using reeds and other aquatic plants to cleanse the effluent. I do know that some were installed in Kent and, in the days when the S E of England was actively involved with the Pas de Calais region, I believe the technology was introduced there as well.  I wonder if the process is still being used?

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I paid a rare visit to the Moor markets recently, but only to have a sit down fish n chip lunch. The chippy there is very good. The markets looked quite busy, but that could just have been folk sat in the cafe area having a cuppa, rather than being there for shopping?

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That's remarkable. It looks as if the camera crew's visit was unauthorised, but they were evidently accompanied by an ex-employee, who perhaps still had a key.

   But how come the power was still on? Who wa paying for the electricity? Perhaps whichever company is handling the disposal of the firm's assets. I suppose they are looking for someone to take the building over.

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I was sad when it closed as I used to work there as a saturday job when I was still at school. The video was a reminder of better times.

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