Sheffield Town Centre What a Dump

[mikebatty]

Hi I came back to Sheffield mid to late August this year to visit the meat and fish market to get what was once the best place for fresh crabs and shellfish.

All most of it has gone, I walked towards wher the Sets was all I could see was street traders outside what was shops very dissapointed as a Sheffielder born and bred.

 

I decided to go for a pint all the local pubs were boarded up around the Castel Market, so I walked towards what was Marpels, what a depressed place the main Post Office Building all boarded up and falling into an eyesore, The iconic Red Telephone Boxes removed the square was Betting Shops and Gold Shops.

 

I finished up at the Penny Black at Pond Street and it was just a changing room for people who were due in court.

 

I parked in the car park under what was the Top Rank and paid £8 for less than 2 hours.

 

I will allways defend my home Town, but it is difficult when I see what it has become.

Maybee I am looking back to the late 60's to the 80's when it was a City to be proud of sadly it is turning into a neglected place.

I doubt I will think again of returning to the City that was the Capital of Yorkshire.

 

Sandie

 

Sandie .

I fully endorse your comments.

I have put a new thread on general discussion entitled Sheffield - is it so bad ? following a visit last Saturday.

I visited the "Penny Black "for the first time in years , it having been a local when I worked at the GPO sorting office . I had to get out .Both the pub and its clientele was depressing to say the least.

We then went to the old " Queens Head ". Whoever has redesigned and revamped the place should be strung up outside . It is now nothing short of a plastic repro. of what someones idea of a modern pub may be like . It has totally lost any character for which it was renowned . There was only staff in the place- no customers . We just got through the door and the staff rose from their seats as if relieved to see some potential customers . We just threw our arms up in despair and walked out .

People think that you are being over critical by these remarks but I don't think that is so . When you live with something day in day out you tend to see things differently from those who make infrequent visits .

[choogling]

Yes, it seems the City Council are very good at getting it all so wrong. Good at wasting our money,good at bunking up parking prices,good at building Sports Arenas they can't afford to maintain,good at screwing us for money while cutting services,and then directing all the local trade out of town and up to Meadowhall. Yes they are very good at "ideas"....sadly all they have done is ruined a City that was once full of life and turned it into a place that's had the heart ripped out of it. Such a damn shame...and even bigger shame on the so called "town planners" who have done more damage to Sheffield than the War ever did !

But they still get voted in !

[bullerboY]

I have to agree with you lots of towns and cities have gone into decline .its a real shame ,but wherever in the world I am if i`m asked where I come from I say with Pride Sheffield ,but I`d never live there again I still own property there but we mainly live across the pond in a southern direction .........x

I always tell them that i live in Roverham but come from Hillsbro.please help me but where is the pond its either Ulley res or the Atlantic ocean .:hihi:x

[sand_dollars]

I always tell them that i live in Roverham but come from Hillsbro.please help me but where is the pond its either Ulley res or the Atlantic ocean .:hihi:x

 

nah not Ulley although Ive just acquired a property there we flit between France and uk we have been in the uk for a few months now as members of my other halfs family have died recently ...........and it has seemed every time we have planned to go home someone else has died ...........But I`m a sheffielder to the end wherever I will be .................x

[sandie]

You went for a day out in the worst run down trampy part of town.

 

If you had walked 5 mins up to the peace gardens there are lots of nice restaurants, bars & coffee shops.

 

You only have yourself to blame.

 

I went to that part of the "City Centre) for a reason as my OP said. I have always gone to that part, I did not go for restaurants bars and coffee shops.

 

My post tried to put forward what I saw in that area and post my dissapointment of how it has become a deprived area.

Why should I blame myself to revisit an area of town I grew up with from the late 50's to the early 80's.

All I would ask is why it has happened.

As a 10 year old Saturday was a bus ride to Pond Street then walk up through Fitzallan Squire to Willson and Gumpets (Toy Shop) then on to Woolies then the Market to spend our pocket money.

 

Then at the age of 16 to 18 it was again Pond Street, 1st pint Penny Black then up to the Blue Bell and on to the Stonehouse, maybee the Claymore and the Nelson.If we pulled it would be on to the heartbeat.

All those area's are now no go area's Why?

 

---------- Post added 02-09-2013 at 19:12 ----------

 

Totally agree.

Why choose the worst part of the City Centre to walk around unless done deliberately?

You didn't bother to walk up the hill to Fargate, the peace gardens, Barkers Pool and the Devonshire quarter ?

 

---------- Post added 02-09-2013 at 09:39 ----------

 

 

The hole in the road was just that - a hive of criminality in the 70's and 80's. You wouldn't have dared walk down there during the hours of darkness.

Short memory and rose tinted specs I fear.

 

---------- Post added 02-09-2013 at 09:41 ----------

 

 

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---------- Post added 02-09-2013 at 09:49 ----------

 

Note to mods - why is this thread in the Sheffield History section?

 

I dont like your comment "unless done deliberatley".

All I did was go back to my home town where I was born in the early 50's, this is a forum where people are free to post their comments, and this was unless changed "Sheffield History & Expats"

I have walked through the hole in the road from when it was built to when it was closed never a problem.

Rose Tinted Specks, well I dont were specks are yours to dark you dont see

[david weston]

If so many, including myself, think councillors are guilty of 'civic vandalism' and shady deals, then we should use our democratic right to attend the public galleries during meetings and make our voices heard. Give it a go as I have and watch their concerned looks when faces different to the usual few attendees show up. They usually back down to strong protest, so take a few with you. " Hey up Tom, we'd better watch our step here, where's this lot come from ? "

[Jim Hardie]

If so many, including myself, think councillors are guilty of 'civic vandalism' and shady deals, then we should use our democratic right to attend the public galleries during meetings and make our voices heard. Give it a go as I have and watch their concerned looks when faces different to the usual few attendees show up. They usually back down to strong protest, so take a few with you. " Hey up Tom, we'd better watch our step here, where's this lot come from ? "

 

They know they only have to stick on a red rosette for the brain dead majority to re-elect them so I don't think they would be too concerned at a protest.

[Grappler]

Hi I came back to Sheffield mid to late August this year to visit the meat and fish market to get what was once the best place for fresh crabs and shellfish.

All most of it has gone, I walked towards wher the Sets was all I could see was street traders outside what was shops very dissapointed as a Sheffielder born and bred.

 

I decided to go for a pint all the local pubs were boarded up around the Castel Market, so I walked towards what was Marpels, what a depressed place the main Post Office Building all boarded up and falling into an eyesore, The iconic Red Telephone Boxes removed the square was Betting Shops and Gold Shops.

 

I finished up at the Penny Black at Pond Street and it was just a changing room for people who were due in court.

 

I parked in the car park under what was the Top Rank and paid £8 for less than 2 hours.

 

I will allways defend my home Town, but it is difficult when I see what it has become.

Maybee I am looking back to the late 60's to the 80's when it was a City to be proud of sadly it is turning into a neglected place.

I doubt I will think again of returning to the City that was the Capital of Yorkshire.

 

Sandie

 

You came all the way from Inverness to visit the markets? really? No crabs and shellfish in Scotland?

 

As for the rest of what you say, can't argue, it's a mess, and by not nipping it in the bud years ago, the problem snowballs until it is too big to fix.

[Daven]

Where did I say it was any different .......I didn`t and yes I remember Sheffield when it was dark and dirty and smog filled nights so thick it was very hard to see in front of you .I also remember the clean air act coming into force and everything seemed bright .Sheffield have a good buzz about it and I`m not looking at it through rose coloured glasses either .

 

I remember the long hot summers that never seemed to end ,the walks up fargate to the peace gardens the hussel and bussel of the markets YES I remember what Sheffield was like .....and NO I`d never return to the sqaller it is now ......Yes they may have large office blocks but the heart has gone out of the city no longer a community as it was ........... So you can say I do know a little about it ............x

 

You didn't - I did. It was a statement and my opinion which I am within my rights to voice on a forum.

Regards

 

---------- Post added 03-09-2013 at 17:16 ----------

 

I went to that part of the "City Centre) for a reason as my OP said. I have always gone to that part, I did not go for restaurants bars and coffee shops.

 

My post tried to put forward what I saw in that area and post my dissapointment of how it has become a deprived area.

Why should I blame myself to revisit an area of town I grew up with from the late 50's to the early 80's.

All I would ask is why it has happened.

As a 10 year old Saturday was a bus ride to Pond Street then walk up through Fitzallan Squire to Willson and Gumpets (Toy Shop) then on to Woolies then the Market to spend our pocket money.

 

Then at the age of 16 to 18 it was again Pond Street, 1st pint Penny Black then up to the Blue Bell and on to the Stonehouse, maybee the Claymore and the Nelson.If we pulled it would be on to the heartbeat.

All those area's are now no go area's Why?

 

---------- Post added 02-09-2013 at 19:12 ----------

 

 

I dont like your comment "unless done deliberatley".

All I did was go back to my home town where I was born in the early 50's, this is a forum where people are free to post their comments, and this was unless changed "Sheffield History & Expats"

I have walked through the hole in the road from when it was built to when it was closed never a problem.

Rose Tinted Specks, well I dont were specks are yours to dark you dont see

 

Is no one allowed to have an opinion that differs from yours ?

I don't like your comment about dark specs since I am partially sighted but, unlike you, I won't take offence.

Regards.

[sandie]

You came all the way from Inverness to visit the markets? really? No crabs and shellfish in Scotland?

 

As for the rest of what you say, can't argue, it's a mess, and by not nipping it in the bud years ago, the problem snowballs until it is too big to fix.

 

You might not beleive this it is very difficult to find fresh boiled crabs. cockels and general shellfish in this area, most of it is for export.

 

And yes once or twice a year I go to Leeds or Brid and whitby for crabs and this time I went to Sheffield Fish Market, sadly my visit resulted in my post.

 

My home town has changed and while all my familly worked in the Steel, Mining and Engineering sectors and I was proud of my home town, but now it is a dump and that is not a good feeling.

 

Sorry if I have offended people, but that is how I feel